Survivor’s Jeff Probst Explains Why the “New Era” Has Had So Many Advantages

The last three years have been an interesting period of time for TV’s most iconic reality competition. Survivor, featuring all-new players and removing the individual season themes. This has brought a lot of great new players to the game, and delivered a few twists that fans have come to love. On the other hand, there have been so many new advantages and twists that many viewers have felt the series could stand to take a step back to a more simpler game. 

According to host and producer Jeff Probst, there’s a reason for all of the madness. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly ahead Wednesday’s Survivor 46 premiere, Probst revealed that the blitz of advantages over these last few seasons was an effort to create a new kind of game, one that rewarded contestants for actually playing the game and not just surviving.

“This is the sixth iteration of this new era,” Probst explained. “And I think players are starting to figure out, ‘Okay, here are the elements that are in this game. How can I use them to my advantage? How should I be prepared in case one befalls me?’ And that really goes back t the grand design of the new era, which was to create so much uncertainty that even if we never put an idol or twist in the game, it would still have the impact that they were in the game because you don’t know if they are in the game or not, so you have to play as though they are, and that makes you make a move.”

Probst went on to say that the style of play they’ve been trying to design with this new era of Survivor is one that prevents players from being idle. Not only does the threat of so many advantages and twists force them to make moves, but it also keeps an idle player from winning at the end. With all of these different elements, it’s nearly impossible to coast and still be seen as a winner by the jury.

“That’s the idea behind creating this blistering attack of advantages and all these changes that everybody said, ‘Oh my God! its too much! It’s too much,’” Probst continued. “Well, now I think we’re going to start to see the reason we were doing that is to create this world, and the ultimate idea is that it will give the player permission to play because you have to play. You can’t be idle in this version of Survivor. You won’t win even if you get to the end.”

Survivor 46 debuts Wednesday night at 8pm ET on CBS.