Jeff Probst Breaks Down the Newest Twists to the 'Survivor' Auction

WARNING! The following article contains spoilers for Survivor 47 Episode 8. Please do not scroll any further if you do not want to learn the events of this week's episode.

This week on Survivor 47 saw another instance of an absolute classic for the veteran reality series: The auction. Countless times in the first 40 seasons of the show, players were given cash, then told to immediately spend it on creature comforts, advantages, and, most importantly, food. The staple unfortunately disappeared for some time in the "new era." And, according to Jeff Probst, it came at least partially due to the large amount of cross-departmental work it takes to pull off the event.

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"The auction is a big one," the host and executive producer says on "On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast." "It takes a lot of departments. You have freshly cooked food items. You have thousands of dollars of cash. You have lots of game unknowns. And so we start with a list of the items, and we kick it back to each other, and everybody kind of makes their notes on what items should we start with? How many items should be covered or uncovered? Do we have any bogey items? All of that stuff."

Once the list of items is determined, then it becomes nailing the all-too-pivotal order of the items to keep the players most on their toes. Then comes the flavor, figuring out whether certain dishes should be presented uncovered, or under a cloak of mystery. Probst may even occasionally do his best Monty Hall impression and offer the opportunity to switch for another item. The entire time, Supervising Producer Chris Marchand is apparently sitting to the side with a laptop, keeping track of how much money is being spent.

"All of that's happening, and it's happening with something that's in real time," Probst explained, "It will be responsible for almost half of the episode. So you're you're doing all of this at once. It's like live theatre. So when it's over, emails get sent out, bows are taken. It's a big deal for our team.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 47

It's especially important to have a numbers guy on the side because of the form the Survivor auction has taken in the "new era" of the show. The milestone came back to massive anticipation from both players and fans in Season 45. However, this was far from the auction of old. First, true to the new era edict of players working to get everything in the game, they took to the jungle for a madcap cash dash. Both those dollars ended up being a double-edged sword, though, as the person left with the most money at the end of the auction (at a point which is randomly drawn and known only by Probst) loses their vote.

"We're very happy with the basic format of the auction and what makes it work right now," Probst said on repeating a similar structure for Survivor 47's version. "That twist that whoever has the most money has the most buying power, they also have the most risk, and that, coupled with that being an unknown amount of items, is what gives the auction some real stakes." 

Despite keeping the skeleton the same, production did look at how the 45 edition played out when determining its 47 counterpart. And once again, in the spirit of the new era, more layers were added in to give more risk to making every decision with your dollars.

Take, for instance, the "Survivor Cash Back Program." Sol Yi was thrilled to see an apple pie under one of the dishes he bought, and was stunned to see $60 stuck underneath it. While ordinarily anyone would be welcome to see some extra cash, it can prove to be an albatross when the conceit is to not be the highest earner by auction's end. According to Probst, this was added to counteract one of the easiest ways to "game" the 45 version of the auction: Spending all your money on one item to guarantee you won't lose your vote.

Related: Jeff Probst Reveals One Recent Return That's Coming Back for Survivor 47

"The smart move is, whoever has the most money should probably spend all of it to buy an item," he said. "Because in doing so, you guarantee that you get something, and then you guarantee that you can't lose your vote because you don't have any money left. So that Money Back program is just a fun twist that some items now come with money. And it's just enough money to put you in a dangerous spot, but not so much money that you could probably buy anything. So now you're back at risk."

While the Cash Back program may put your vote at risk, another layer to the auction puts your stomach at risk. For one item, Probst put forward a sprawling breakfast platter. His request, though, was a bit different. People would bid $200 to compete to earn the "Outwit Outplay Outbreakfast" spread. The competition: Eating grubs. The "grub-off," as coined by Probst, is a throwback to the second episode ever of the show, as the contestants of the iconic Borneo were met with simply devouring "butod" bug larvae for their second Immunity Challenge.

"I wanted grubs back in the auction," Probst admitted. "So this was a really fun creative exercise for us to figure out how we're going to accomplish that. So where we landed was we thought a pretty good idea that come up with a great food item and a fix a reasonable price that a lot of people will have. And the twist is, in addition to the money, you got to eat the grubs. And what I love about it is, if you're the fastest to eat the grubs, then you get the food item, and you get rid of your $200. But if you fail to finish the grubs, you don't get the food and you get your money back. So it essentially guarantees that you'll get the grubs into the auction, but it also guarantees a satisfying outcome, because whoever wins it clearly deserves it."

Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 47

The most significant change to the new era auction, though, came sticking out of a bowl of fries. One of the reasons why the auction was originally sunset was that some players had figured out there would be an advantage (usually an idol clue) as an item. As a result, they would simply not bid on anything until they saw that fateful scroll so they could throw all their money at it. Having some of the last auctions come down to a rock draw between $500 holdouts was leading to rote outcomes and, as Probst claims, "broke" the concept.

When the auction came back for Survivor 45, Jeff openly declared to the castaways that there would be no advantages up for grabs. And while technically the 47 edition didn't have it as a solitary item, it served as a nice bonus prize for Rachel LaMont, who was able to nab an idol as a result of her fine. But Probst has a warning for future Survivor hopefuls who saw the hidden advantage pop up: Drop your expectations."

"We thought about this for a long time, because we don't want to break the auction again," he said. "So I'm just saying to future players, make your assumptions based on history. But do not assume that this means there will be an advantage in future auctions. I'm not saying there won't be. I'm just saying this doesn't mean that the new mold now is that there will be an advantage."

With a vote up for grabs, plenty of new layers, and an idol clue to boot, it's safe to say we–along with the contestants–were stuffed with the Survivor 47 version of the auction.

Next, Jeff Probst Explains His Thinking Behind the Newest Survivor Advantage.