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 Rachel comment on what they prefer between heat or rain when it comes to Survivor. Also, Probst reveals what happens to those letters from home that aren’t read and more about Shauhin Davari’s elimination.
When playing Survivor, players must contend with severe physical conditions, including extreme heat, downpour rains, and even cyclones at times. If it comes down to filming under the scorching sun or a torrential storm, Probst reveals he would opt for rain, as he says, “Rain is difficult, but you just adapt. Heat is even worse than rain. I would much rather have a wet season for the players than a very hot season because that can literally bring players to their knees, and they can no longer function.” Case in point, no one will ever forget how, during Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, three players went down because of heat stroke, and one of them had to be medevaced for fear they could die from overheating.
For her part, Rachel agrees that rainy conditions are much preferable to hot ones, as she sometimes felt her brain melting due to the heat and felt she could’ve fainted on various occasions. Rachel says, “Both are really awful. But I understand. I do think rain is maybe better in the sense of, you just have to fight through like, the shaking and the shivering versus the heat, which can just wipe you.”
As to the reward challenge and Shauhin’s companion picks, Rachel states Shauhin was between a rock and a hard place, as this is usually the case when it comes to these types of rewards, and someone will get upset no matter what. Later, regarding the letters from home that aren’t delivered to the players during the game, Probst discloses what happens to them, “We give them to the players at the end of the season. Lots of times, we will give them to a player after they’re voted out and they’re at Ponderosa, as a way to help heal the sadness and as a reminder that they’re going to be home soon.” Rachel comments she got hers the next day the game ended.
Afterwards, Rachel delves into the fact that some people are better than others at compartmentalising between real-life relationships and playing the game in a “colder way” where they are willing to backstab to advance further. The perfect examples of this pendulum are Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu, respectively, where Kyle has been struggling to vote out his allies. In contrast, Kamilla is excited to repeatedly run the bus over other people if they get in her way.
When Shauhin’s elimination is discussed, Probst comments on his thoughts about Shauhin, “Shauhin is fascinating to me.” At first, Probst thought Shauhin was all about ego, but as he got to know Shauhin better, Probst recognised Shauhin’s potential. Probst also gave Shauhin “five stars all around”. Rachel divulges that she and Shauhin were alternates for Survivor 46 together, and even though both went to play in different seasons, they still bonded, which is why Rachel rooted for him all season long.
Lastly, Probst answers some fan questions. He gets asked which challenge sounded great on paper but was awful once it was done, and he answers there were several during the early seasons as challenges were created on the spot rather than tested out beforehand and couldn’t be changed at the last second. Nowadays, challenges are thoroughly tested before a season even begins production, so these setbacks are much less common.
Then, Rachel is asked what she worried the most about pre-game, which was meaningless in the long run. Rachel responds that she read a book about solving negotiations before playing, which was useless as she forgot all those theoretical techniques once she hit the beach.
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