Survivor’s Jeff Probst Calls Out Season 49 Cut Players for Disrespect

You simply cannot outwit the rules of Survivor.

Jeff Probst recently explained the reasons behind the last-minute decision to remove two players from season 49, just 12 hours before filming began.

He explained on the September 24th episode of his podcast, *On Fire with Jeff Probst*, that all the players spend time together before the game officially starts. They stay at a location called Ponderosa, but they aren’t allowed to communicate with each other.

He explained that they have a lot of people monitoring the situation to prevent anyone from communicating. While participants can see and attempt to make eye contact with each other, he added that it isn’t guaranteed to be effective.

Jeff explained that although castaways aren’t allowed to talk to each other, they can write down their initial thoughts on the other players, including who they think they might work with at the start of the game.

We have a strict rule against players talking to each other, for pretty clear reasons,” the 63-year-old explained. “This season, season 49, we had two players who kept breaking that rule and wouldn’t stop talking.

Things actually got pretty serious behind the scenes. I learned they had to step in because there was a real worry about how two of the contestants were interacting. They ended up having a very serious conversation with both of them, making it clear they needed to stop communicating with each other.

I spoke with our executives and warned them that we might be facing a problem,” Probst explained. “Before we could even discuss it, I received another call letting me know the situation had gotten significantly worse and was now incredibly disrespectful.

“That was all it took,” he continued. “Candidly, the decision was made in that moment to immediately remove those two players from the game and replace them with our alternates.”

Jeff Probst announced that Jason Treul and Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu were eliminated, a decision that surprised and confused the remaining contestants, signaling that something was going on between those two players.

It turns out that the 16 other contestants appreciated the shakeup.

Jeff Probst explained that after the players were able to discuss it, they thanked the producers. They admitted they all knew what was going on and felt it was unfair – like someone had an advantage. Now, they’re grappling with whether or not they should do the same thing.

The Emmy-winning creator said this was the first time the show had done this, but they’re open to repeating the move if necessary.

He also stated that players should understand we won’t hesitate to remove them from the game, regardless of how much time or money we’ve already spent on them. He admitted, though, that he doesn’t expect this situation to repeat itself.

As he simply put it, “We value the integrity of the game more than anything.”

Now, keep reading to see the entire cast of Survivor season 49.