The On Fire podcast is back for Survivor 48, with Survivor host Jeff Probst, producer Jeff Wolfe, and Survivor 47 winner Rachel LaMont. In the latest episode, Probst and company talk about the merge, especially within the New Era context, Sai’s merge advantage, and the surprising order of the votes at tribal council. Plus, Probst answers some fan questions.
From a producer’s standpoint, Probst says the merge nowadays is a rebirth of its original concept and how it launches a new layer of battle for survival. Probst adds he’s noticed people playing harder during the pre-merge phase as they know what they’ll face once the merge begins. For her part, Rachel touches upon how the merge represents a new level of excitement, fear, and new opportunities to further one’s game.
Later, the trio comment on how Sai found the merge advantage and how fun it was to see her coming out of nowhere in an all-guns-blazing glory and snatch that advantage right in front of Chastity, who was also in pursuit. “When I saw this in the first cut of the episode, I lost my mind,” Probst reveals as he praises the cameraman’s work as he had only framed Charity running in purpose to distract the audience until the last possible second when Sai appears.
Probst goes on, “It was like a horror movie. I was squirming in my chair as they raced to the advantage…But we talk about what separates Survivor all the time. It’s the instinct of a storyteller behind the lens.”
When speaking about Sai, Probst says, laughing,” And how great it’s Sai! Because Sai is everywhere. Sai is such a great player; she always kind of knows where to be and how to get at you, and then look at this, she snakes the advantage from Charity. An amazing moment!”
Afterwards, the order of the votes at tribal council is brought up, and Probst is asked what the reasoning was behind placing and reading the votes in that particular order. “When it comes to stacking the votes in the urn, you’re obviously doing it for dramatic impact,” Probst first responds. As Rachel asks him about his usual pattern being broken this time, Probst replies, “Maybe we’ll mix it up more.”
Lastly, Probst, and mostly Rachel, answer some fan questions. Rachel reveals that Eva was the player of the week for her, as the latter was able to reunite with her former allies and create a potential new alliance with others as well. Then, Rachel gets asked how much hunger is a factor in a player’s social game, and Rachel says it mostly depends on the person, as she didn’t struggle as much as other contestants during her season did.
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