Jeff Probst explains why “Survivor” no longer does combat challenges

Key Points

• Jeff Probst says the days of players murdering each other in challenges are over.

• The Survivor host explains why the show pulled back.

• You want to see Sumo at Sea? Tough noogies!

There have been a lot of changes on Survivor over the years. No big gong to hit upon entering Tribal Council. No trunk of cash just sort of awkwardly sitting there. Thirty-nine days is dunzo. And, while we might see a glorious return for Survivor 50, even the live reunion show is currently a thing of the past.

But there has been one other noticeable change over time, and it is a change one Survivor fan wondered enough about to ask host and showrunner Jeff Probst on the latest episode of his On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast.

The question came from a fan and self-proclaimed “future player” named Ben, who asked: “In early seasons, we saw a lot of head-to-head combat challenges where players might wrestle one another to try and push each other off a platform into the mud. I think I understand why these challenges no longer happen, but I miss the emotional fallout that resulted from getting out-muscled by a worthy competitor. Would you consider bringing challenges like these back to increase the chances of personal vendettas and moments of heroism?”

Probst replied to the query, emphasizing the fact that while Survivor challenges are still very physical — and having done around 30 of them myself while on location over the years, I can attest to that — there is a line the show no longer wants to cross.

“It's a really fair question,” Probst says on the podcast. “And it also speaks to the idea that if you had a different group of people in charge of Survivor, we might have a lot of these challenges. Survivor could have gone the route of The Challenge show and make it more physical and all of that. We just took a different approach. But I would say in terms of why we don't have those, there wasn't a defining moment when we decided to back off of these types of challenges.”

If there was a defining moment, it would probably be the challenge known as Schmergen Brawl, which was essentially a free-for-all version of basketball in which contestants would wrestle for balls in a pit. The first time it was run, in Survivor: Samoa (season 19), Ben Browning was disqualified for kicking another contestant in the leg, while Mike Borassi was medevaced. It was run again in the following season for Heroes vs. Villains, and again another player was injured — this time James Clement, who suffered a nasty knee injury. It hasn't been run since.

“There was a period, it was like three or four seasons in a row where we all started feeling, are we pressing a little too hard on the physicality?” Probst says, “especially in the one-on-one or two-on-two challenges, because we don't want the challenges to be so physical that it's likely somebody will get hurt.”

Not to say injuries can no longer happen — Bruce Perreault’s concussion and Kevin Leung’s dislocated shoulder in the opening minutes of seasons 44 and 48 are proof of that. “Of course, injuries do sometimes happen,” the host says. “But for the most part, anybody can run these challenges. You may fall, you may get scraped up, but you're not going to break a bone. But again, like everything on Survivor, it's about balance and point of view and we're doing our best to manage it.”

After Probst’s explanation, On Fire cohost and certified challenge beast (not to mention Survivor champion) Rachel LaMont asked about a specific personal favorite of hers. “Which challenge I really like that we haven't seen in a while, Jeff, is Sumo at Sea, where they have the big bean bag and they shove each other in the water. I feel like you're not likely to get hurt, but it's so fun to watch people kind of pummel each other in that way.”

Apparently, Sumo at Sea (which first appeared in season 10 of Survivor: Pulau and was last run in season 29 of San Juan del Sur) is one of the specific competitions of which the show wants to steer clear. “That was one of the ones that made this shift happen,” Probst reveals.

“There was something we noticed,” he continues. “The one-on-one-ness of it got into something really primal inside people and it became a little more like angry, like, ‘I'm going to knock you off.’ And it added a layer of dynamic that yes, to Ben's point, it is compelling, but it's going to take your game in a certain direction, and it's just not what we want.”

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In the end, the host is looking for the spirit of hard-fought competition without anything approaching actual fighting. “We want it to be physical and adrenaline and all of that, but we don't want it to be, ‘I'm going to knock you off this fricking platform.’ That's just not the show we're looking for.” (R.I.P. Attack Zone from Survivor: Thailand.)

But what are you as a viewer looking for? Do you miss the ultra-physical battles of yesteryear, or prefer the kinder, gentler challenges of today? Hit the comments section to weigh in, and for more from Probst on Survivor 48, check out the latest installment of On Fire.

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