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Author: Jeff Probst (1-10 of 39)

Jan 28 2010 08:00 AM ET

Jeff Probst's five reasons to watch 'Live for the Moment'

Categories: Reality TV, Survivor, Television

Three days ago, my friend Dalton Ross at Entertainment Weekly sent me an email and kindly offered me the opportunity to promote my new show Live for the Moment airing tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS and I said, “Absolutely!”

What I thought I would do with this open-ended opportunity from EW.COM is use it as my own very public focus group. If you watch the show, I’d love for you to then respond to this column and tell me if you liked it or not. Tell me if you’d like to see more episodes, the kinds of people you’d like to see us feature. All of it. How’s that sound?

But… first things first: WHAT IS IT? (Read full post)

Dec 21 2009 09:39 PM ET

Jeff Probst blogs about 'Survivor' finale: 'Nobody outplayed Russell'

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Reality TV, Survivor

Okay, now that the show is officially over I’m going to take off my hosting and producing hat and just give you my personal reaction to what went down last night.

I think Russell was the victim of a jury of bitter people. I am not taking anything away from Natalie, she clearly did a great job of reading the group dynamic of the jury and as a result she deserves the money.

Oftentimes on Survivor, the vote does come down to a choice where a determining factor is “how nice someone is” but that’s usually when all other criteria being considered is equal. That doesn’t hold up this season. This season was so lopsided in terms of one person (Russell) completely dominating the game that to not give him the money and the title is a bit silly.

If I were playing Survivor, no matter how much I despised someone, if they kicked my ass in the game I would give it to them. Period. Outwit. Outplay. Nobody outwitted or outplayed Russell. Not even close. (Read full post)

Dec 18 2009 06:30 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #14

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Survivor, TV Recap, Television, Things That Are Awesome!

Hey everybody, let’s get right into it…

ANATOMY OF A REWARD CHALLENGE

Long before the Survivors participate in a challenge it has already gone through an extensive testing process. It begins with a “test block” where our dreamteamers do a light run-through of the challenge so we can see how it’s coming along.

When we did the first test block for last night’s “Coconut Drop” reward challenge it was rough. We all agreed that it was a brilliant and inventive challenge but it wasn’t quite right. So we gave some notes and our art department made some changes and we tested it again. Technically it was working much better but it was still taking a long time to complete. (Read full post)

Dec 11 2009 12:05 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #13

by Jeff Probst

Categories: About Last Night, Reality TV, Survivor, TV Recap, Television

Man, I gotta say… another awesome episode. Yeah, I know I’m biased, but come on, that was a great show!

And now there is absolutely no debate. Foa Foa has done it. They have come back from an eight to four deficit and now are in charge of the game. Think of the odds Vegas would have given you on that not happening. Well, Vegas wouldn’t actually give you any odds, since they know the show has already been taped and they know that I would have emptied my bank account to take that bet and would now be retired living in Palau.

FIRST IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Nobody ever said all challenges would be created equal. If there is one consistent element of Survivor challenges it’s that they’re typically not things you can practice at home. When’s the last time anybody went bowling… using a coconut for the ball. But it was a little bit exciting, right? I loved Jaison pacing around the deck “visualizing” his final immunity winning toss. But hey, it paid off and kept Jaison in the game one more day. (Read full post)

Dec 4 2009 06:41 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #12

by Jeff Probst

Categories: About Last Night, Survivor, TV Recap, Television

Once again history repeats itself. It always does. Especially on Survivor. Anybody remember back on Survivor: All-Stars when Boston Rob pleaded with Lex to save his soon-to-be wife, Amber, promising his loyalty in return? We all remember how that turned out… Lex was the next person voted out. Sound familiar?

John made a huge move last week when he aligned with Russell and Foa Foa and switched his vote forcing Laura out of the game. It was a big move that I fully appreciated. He risked alienating Laura and other Galu members to put himself in a better position in the game. Unfortunately for John, the big move was poorly executed. (Read full post)

Nov 27 2009 12:05 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs his Thanksgiving thoughts

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Survivor

No blog this week. I’m having Thanksgiving with the family. Hope you are all having a good holiday and enjoyed the “recap” show.

If you didn’t enjoy it, don’t blame me! I don’t really like them either but sometimes they’re a necessary evil, because…
INSIGHT: In the television world, Thanksgiving evening is a tough night to get people to watch television. So often networks will air re-runs or “specials” and save their original episodes for the following week.

Same thing often happens with Survivor during March Madness when college basketball takes over the airwaves.

We just don’t want any of our loyal fans to miss out on an episode of Survivor. Especially this season with so much great stuff happening.

I hope you’re ready for a great finish. So many questions…

Can Foa Foa continue their run? Or is Galu going to figure out a way to stop them?

How much longer can Russell avoid the vote?

And the big one….

Will Shambo cut her hair for the live show?

Talk next week.

Nov 20 2009 05:05 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #10

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Survivor, Things That Are Awesome!

Erik: “And there goes the lead.”

It’s appropriate that Erik’s comment starts this blog since the downfall of Galu all started with Galu voting out Erik, one of their own.

Survivor hindsight is no different than any other hindsight, it’s always 20-20. But man… if they only knew what they were starting, ‘ole Erik would probably still be wearing those black knee highs and most of the Foa Foa would be gone.

Instead… it’s wow, wow, wow.

Who would have ever predicted this kind of a turnaround? Galu, the tribe who dominated for so long is now in a giant hole, not unlike a grave, that they dug themselves. (Read full post)

Nov 13 2009 06:01 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode 9

by Jeff Probst

Categories: About Last Night, Reality TV, Survivor, TV Recap, Television

Image (1) jeffprobst2_l_21_2.jpg for post 1171 First off, I want to thank all of the Survivor fans who voted for the People’s Choice nominations. Thanks to your support we were nominated for Best Competition Show. Survivor previously won the Peoples Choice Award in 2001, 02, 03, 04 and thanks to our loyal fans we are once again nominated. If you have time and want to vote for us to win, simply go to:

http://www.peopleschoice.com/pca/vote/

Okay to this weeks episode…

I KILLED SOMETHING Y’ALL
Little ole Natalie is really coming of age out in Samoa.

Natalie killing the rat is one of my favorites moments of all time. It’s wrong on so many levels but never ever fails to make me stop what I am doing and watch. (Read full post)

Nov 6 2009 06:00 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #8

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Survivor, TV Recap, Television

Image (1) jeffprobst_l.jpg for post 949 So I’ve recovered from my Zyrtec cloud and yes I now realize that we promoted the merge. It was funny to be reminded of it by you guys. What can I say, I really was “loopy” when I wrote that blog. But yes I do see episodes and I do know what we promote, sometimes I just forget…

In honor of my slip up last week, I’m going to dedicate today’s blog to… what else… The Merge. (Read full post)

Oct 30 2009 08:58 AM ET

Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #7

by Jeff Probst

Categories: Survivor, Television

Image (1) jeffprobst2_l_21_2.jpg for post 1171

Fair Warning:
I haven’t been feeling too well for the past few days, so tonight as I sat down to write this I took a Zyrtec. It certainly cleared up my sinus issue but in doing so has made me really drowsy. Major drowsy. So this is my first blog written under the influence of an “over the counter, readily available at any pharmacy” drug. Here goes… (Read full post)