Premiers, Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 8:00 PM (EST)
Jeff Probst Media Teleconference
Transcript courtesy of the great folks at SurvivorFever.net
Part 2 of 2
Question: I wanted to ask you about the possibility of some of the newcomers being underestimated. To use the example of Erik, he looks like he's one of the smallest guys. He's certainly one of the youngest guys. He looks kind of sweet. He's an athlete who set a high school running record. Would you think he was underestimated as far as his ability. Was that an advantage or disadvantage to him?
JP: I think the initial take on Erik was, he's a little silly. He runs everywhere. Even when we have them in lockdown before the show starts we take them to this place that we always refer to as The Ponderosa. It's a bunch of tents where they have to live until the game starts and they can't talk. When we were meeting with the Survivors right before the game started, kinda just to see how things were going, everybody commented about the kid in the green shorts who runs everywhere. I think that was the take going in. To Erik's credit, he is much sharper than I think people give him credit for, initially. He's much more of an athlete than I think anybody knew. You look at him and and he's thin and obviously in shape but he's strong. He has a determination to do what it takes and that can get you a long way in Survivor. Just that willingness to dig deep and go for it, not think about it, can go a long way.
Question: Sometimes the conditions can just run down somebody who runs at the start. I don't know what time of year it was in Micronesia. Was it hot and brutal or was it actually kind of pleasant?
JP: During the time we were in Palau, the rainy season had just ended. The Philippines were having some bad weather and as a result we got a lot of storms. It made it a very difficult season. So difficult that, this season more than any other, there's always a physical toll on our crew. Those guys are always getting beat up. We're always sending guys to the hospital, we're sending guys home, we have new people come out. This time the cast suffered. I don't want to give too much away. You will see that the Survivors took a physical beating like we've never had before. Nothing compares to how tough it was for them this time. You will see that play out on the show.
Question: I want to ask you about one of the fans, Mary Sartain.
JP: I was on the fence about Mary. Coming into the game I think her battle is going to be getting in with the right group. So much of Survivor is who you align yourself with initially. If you pick wisely you can ride that alliance quite far. If you're on the wrong side of the numbers you could be gone before you even get a chance. That's what I thought about Mary coming in. I didn't have a big strong take on, she's going to be a leader or a follower. That's the thing I would be watching for with Mary. Which way does she lean right when the game starts? That happens to me a lot. I would say there's always half a dozen people that I just have no idea. There was no question that Erik was going to come out and just bounce off the wall. He couldn't help himself. Mary is quieter and that can be a really great way to approach the game is to just blend into the forest and hope nobody notices.
Question: I was talking to Yul the other day and asked if he would ever do it again. He said maybe if they ever do an all winners one. Has that been kicked around?
JP: Yeah, it has. You know, we have to wait for Hatch to get out of prison. Aside for that, no, we have. We've talked about that at a certain point it might be fun to bring back all the winners and see if we can crown the ultimate Survivor winner. I think it's a great idea and maybe it's a way you end your run. Maybe that's the last season you do, is something like that. It definitely has merit.
Question: I know roughly the parameters of when you film these things. Some of these people from the last one, Amanda and James, in Amanda's case, she must have went on this one before she knew how the last one turned out.
JP: She did. Amanda had no idea what the result was going to be when she headed out for this one again. When everybody left to go do Fans Vs. Favorites, James hadn't been voted off yet and neither had Amanda. So, you have two people out there and everybody looking at them thinking, 'Well, you must have done well because you're on the favorites season. How well did you do.' I think if they had known either one of those guys had won, that might impact the game. What do James and Amanda tell the others? How much of their hand do they play? They don't want to have this target on their back. In the case of Amanda, she didn't know. She had no idea, maybe I did just win it.
Question: What roughly was the turn around time?
JP: It was about six weeks, I think. It was very odd for me to show up and see James and Amanda again. Like, wow we just left. Oddly, James was bigger than he was in China. The guy put on 10 pounds of muscle. I don't know how he did it. Both of them had great attitudes. We did not have any of the attitude when we did the first All Stars. That first All Stars season there was so much entitlement. Some of these people who had been pseudo rock stars because of being on the first Survivor...people like Sue and Richard, those guys. It was tough. There was a lot of attitude. This group, they were great. They were fun, they enjoyed the chance to come back. We took a lot of time in picking 10 people that we thought would compliment each other. We didn't just pick the 10 most physical. We wanted game players. We wanted second chancers. We wanted favorites that the audience would love. We wanted a really good combination. They were a great group.
Question: Getting back to how the game has changed. It's a little bit kinder, gentler than it was in those first few. There are more rewards on yachts and villages where they're well taken care of. Less of eating the really yucky stuff. Is that conscious or is that really just an evolution?
JP: I think it's both. I think initially we were reluctant to give them anything very nice. Mark always wanted it to remain extremely difficult and to really test your mental capability to withstand conflict. Over the years we've learned that there's a balance between making this difficult and making this demoralizing. We realized that if we put them on a yacht and we wash their clothes and we give them a massage and a big meal and dessert, that it only lasts for those three hours. It doesn't give them any nutrition more than the next morning. What it does is it renews their spirit that they can make it. We need that. We need the contestants to want to continue to play the game. We're constantly sort of gauging that temperature. We may have a reward and at the last minute add that we're going to give them showers. We can see that that will put them over the edge. That will get them back in our good graces. We might let them steal a little food and bring it back to the rest of the tribe. Five years ago, no way. We saw you take a nut we would get it out of your pocket. Now the producers out on the beach are told, "Use your judgment. If you think it will help your story, let them take back some chocolate cake and make everybody happy."
Question: They all split up initially as fans and favorites, right?
JP: Right from the beginning. When they first meet on the beach and discover who they're playing against there's this initial moment of worship from the fans for the favorites. Then by the first challenge there was such animosity toward each other. We have some physical challenges in the 2nd episode, one of our most physical ever. It's basically a game of tackle the dummy. You have Joel. He made a comment about, "Well up until this season James had been the biggest and most physical Survivor ever. I can't wait to go after him." You have Joel wanting to take on James. You have Erik and Jason wanting to take on Ozzy. Some of the women were wanting to outmaneuver the other women. It became a battle more quickly.
Question: I was wondering if you're aware that Yul is considering running for congress?
JP: We had Yul on our list to come back. We couldn't find a spot for him. As much as we liked Yul and Shane we just didn't know who we would take out to put them in. I had no idea he's running for congress. He's a sharp guy. He's so analytical and he's constantly looking at options. He was known for running scenarios.
Question: One of the rumors circulating was that you would do a celebrity version of Survivor. What stars do you think would benefit most from coming on your show?
JP: I never heard that rumor. We talked about doing a celebrity version, waaaaaay back, like in season three. Now that it's become the norm to do celebrity reality shows, I don't think Survivor would ever do it. Why don't we just get young Hollywood. It would be a little bit of rehab.
Question: I talked to Coby from Palau. He said that he was on a list of potential candidates along with Janu and Terry. Is there any truth to that?
JP: Well, at a certain point, yes. He was being considered, at a certain point. I can't say how far into the mix he made it. We liked him on the show. He was great and so was Janu. The truth is, you have 10 spots. You have a couple of certains. You're gonna have Ozzy. You're gonna have Yau-Man. You're gonna have James. And you're gonna have Fairplay. Then you go to people like Cirie. Then you want somebody like Parvati. You want the quote, unquote, hot girl who's gonna flirt and maybe surprise everybody. Then you need the game changers in Eliza and Ami, people that will betray at the drop of a hat. If Ami can get her way she will get that girls alliance again that she had in Vanuatu and try to run the game. That's what I meant earlier about trying to handpick the right ten. It wasn't that these were the 10 most favorite, it was 10 favorites. I know there were some people that weren't selected and I know their feelings are hurt. It doesn't mean they weren't worthy of being on the season. It just means that we picked 10 people for reasons that have nothing to do about you.
Question: Someone like Jonny Fairplay, for example, do you see him having learned anything from Pearl Islands or is he just still Fairplay?
JP: I cannot tell you if Fairplay is coming or going, honest or a liar, straight or bent. I have no idea. The guy is a huge fascinating question to me. I watch all the reality shows he's done and him getting tossed on his face and now marrying somebody and having a baby. I really don't know what to think. I think it's quite a life he's leading. My initial reaction when we decided to do this season was, let's don't bring Fairplay back. He's not our pedigree anymore. We don't need him. We made him. He went out and did something with it but he's kind of used it up. Then wiser heads prevailed, and I quickly realized, how can you do this season without Fairplay. He's your most notorious figure ever. I can tell you that we got exactly what we expected and deserved with putting Fairplay on the show.
Question: It's my understanding that you guys have brought Exile Island back.
JP: Yeah, we brought Exile Island back. The idea this time was you bring each week one person from each tribe that will have to go to Exile Island. So you will always have one fan and one favorite. The idea behind that was twofold. One is that you're going to have one person from each tribe spend time together so that if and when they merge these could be alliance breakers. We might have new relationships form that could play out after the merge. That was the strategy part of it. From a game point of view, we have one idol hidden somewhere out on Exile Island. You have two people, one clue, one idol. How is this gonna work? How are you gonna sneak away and look for the idol without the other person? What will you do if you both find it? Who will own it? No matter what they're probably going to know you found it. How do you keep them quiet? I can tell you that the idols play a major part in this season. Capital letters. They do have more impact than I think they've ever had. They have more impact this season than ever before. Luckily for James, James currently holds the title of biggest blunder in Survivor history. Luckily for him, he only holds it for one season. Because we have someone this season that makes an even bigger blunder. A major blunder. I know when it happened that James was thinking, thank God.
Question: What brought you back to Palau?
JP: Palau is, hands down, the most beautiful place we've been. We have great underwater photography. You're going to see all kinds of underwater sea life. You'll see great shots at challenges.
Question: Are there any drawbacks with returning to the same place?
JP: No, not in this case. If you're going back to the same place, you've got to have creative. Our creative this year was fans versus favorites. We don't want to waste a brand new epic location because they're hard to find. We didn't expect it to be as rainy.
Question: The Survivors can bring one luxury item, right? It always seems like the women have very well shaved legs.
JP: They are given absolutely nothing. They are given a pot and a machete and maybe a flint. Some of the people get a laser procedure that will go in a little deeper than a shave can go. Those women have more hair than you see. We had a moment this season where a woman...we had a camera placed at a strategic angle for an endurance challenge...she was gonna have to raise her hand above her head...she said, "Oh, man, that camera is going to be shooting right at my armpit." It's a full hairy armpit. They don't have tweezers, they don't shave. They have tampons and they have condoms. We don't want to have any Survivor babies. If it were to ever happen. We strip search them before the show. We have their suitcase and we say, "You can have this, this and that."
Question: Do you film in HD?
JP: No. We're still debating about HD and the cost. Everybody wants us to do it. I think it's a matter of CBS saying we're going to do it and here's the extra money. I do have one other thing I want to say. We have love affairs this season. Plural. They play from episode two, they start. We have some of the most intimate footage we've ever had of a love affair developing and consummating in a Survivor way. We have the most intimate footage of Survivors being intimate that we've ever had. It was brilliant how we got it. How we captured it because it's hard to do because they try to hide. We out-thought them. It plays a big part in this season all the way to the end.
Question: You've touched on Jonny Fairplay a little bit.
JP: Fairplay and I have had an interesting relationship...this WWE relationship. Where he's this crazy drunk villain and I'm his straight man. At a certain point I just got tired of it. I don't want you in my life man. Please don't come to anymore of the parties. Then I have a change of heart. I started seeing Fairplay as a guy who is struggling. That he is a real person and he created this persona. It's kind of become his legacy. Underneath that is this guy trying to live a life. He's got his demons like we all do. Now he's going to be a father. I kind of had a big change of heart. Now I just see him as a guy who is on this reality show Survivor and he created a persona and he damn well better deliver, we're going to give you one of ten spots. You better show up. Other than that, I don't think a lot about it, one way or the other.
Question: Did your change of heart happen before or after he got dropped on his face?
JP: It happened before that. That was really uncomfortable to watch. My first reaction as a person who's in the reality world, I had a little bit of skepticism. Was that a real moment, was that a planned, staged moment that went awry? I saw the damage to his teeth when he was on the show. It wasn't fake. It was real. It was just disturbing. We have a pretty high class show. We have some of the best storytelling on television. That's what we work hard at is trying to craft 39 days, 20 people, several 1000 hours of footage into a compelling dramatic season.
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