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Survivor 20 Samoa II

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Snooky:
Could it even be like Guatemala and bring back just a few players?

Kiwi Jay:
I don't know about Ass and a half again. I hope for Winners Edition or just plain ASS or just a normal season lol!

puddin:

Jeff Probst: He's the ultimate survivor
Portable toilets and showers, phones with no reception. . . the reality for the Emmy-winning host of 'Survivor' and its crew is that shooting the show is an ordeal.
By Rebecca Ascher-Walsh
June 15, 2009
Nine years, 18 seasons and 15 iterations of wilderness later, "Survivor" host Jeff Probst is a man of simple needs: A shower to call his own and a movie theater within driving distance.

"Gabon, Africa . . . you don't want to go there," says the 46-year-old of the 17th season. As for Tocantins, Brazil, where this past season was filmed, "I couldn't find it on a map now, and I was there for six weeks. It's in the middle of nowhere, with portable toilets and portable showers. In those two places we were living in tents at first. It was kind of romantic for a while," he says, not entirely convincingly, of the crew's accommodations, "but then we were about to lose our minds. E-mail was sketchy. We had phones, but you couldn't get reception. We called [creator and executive producer Mark Burnett] and said, 'Dude, next time, hotel or mutiny.' "

The crew of 325 can put down their weapons. As they prepare to ship off to Samoa for the summer, where they will spend 3 1/2 months filming two seasons back to back thanks to budget cuts, things are looking downright luxurious. "I just ran into our production designer, who said, 'There's a movie theater 45 minutes away,' " says Probst, showing off his extravagant dimples. "We've never had that. We've never had a hotel. I keep waiting for someone to say, 'Dude, it's April 1. We're kidding.' "

The Emmy-winning host could be forgiven for getting tired of the game, even if the show has yet to lose its prime Thursday time slot since its premiere. Last season had the kind of casting that producers dream about, with a villain in the self-knighted Coach and a hero in the rancher and ultimate winner J.T., but how many torches can one person snuff out and still remain engaged?

"I stay interested because there's always a hero and there's always an underdog," Probst says. "I pull for the underdog until they become the hero, and then I want them to fall. This season I pulled for Sierra the whole time because she was the underdog the whole time. Is she whiny and bitchy? Yeah. But she's a good story."

And dreams of cellphone access aside, keeping the tale moving along for the 39 days of filming is, he asserts, his priority. Probst dated a former "Survivor" contestant, Julie Berry, for several years, but while the show is in production, "there's no fraternizing with the contestants," he says. "The first couple seasons I would hang out with them, but all that would happen is they wanted to talk to me because they're bored, and we can't use that on the show. Every episode is about one thing, and that's about who is being voted out and going home." (That said, even those voted off don't get to go home until the end of the show.)

Probst will have fulfilled his contract by the end of the summer. Should he choose not to re-up, something he says he has yet to decide, Burnett believes that won't be the end of the adventure. "Jeff's the face of the show," he admits, "but it's not a silly game. It has strong sociological values, which is why it's unbeaten in its time slot. 'America's Most Wanted' has gone on for 20 years, so I think we could only be halfway through."

As for the face of the show, a decade of watching strategies play out hasn't been wasted when it comes to plotting his future. He's shot a pilot for CBS called "Live for the Moment," in which a terminally ill person is taken on a series of adventures, and he'll be filming new episodes when he returns home to L.A. this fall. "I'm more proud of this than anything I've ever done," he says.

calendar@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-en-probst15-2009jun15,0,7149315.story

Kiwi Jay:
Budget Cuts. lol hahaha

puddin:

Jeff Probst: back-to-back Survivor seasons “because of budget cuts”; “I really don’t” know about hosting past season 20
Survivor 20 »   June 15, 2009, 7:34 AM

Seasons 19 and 20 of Survivor will be filmed back to back—instead of taking a three-month break in between them—and the reason is entirely about saving money, Jeff Probst told me.

“This season we’re also doing back-to-back seasons because of budget cuts, and that’s just the truth. We are having to do two seasons to save money, because every television show is undergoing some sort of a cut,” Probst said. “And I think that’s going to be hard on people. It’s a long time to be away from home. We’re gone nearly four months. Six weeks was one thing; 14 weeks is another,” he said.

To me, getting two seasons out of the way and having a year-long break seemed like it might be easier, but Jeff said I was mistaken, and to explain why, launched into his Mark Burnett impression, complete with a British accent. “That’s what Mark Burnett would say. Mark Burnett would say, ‘Jeff, oh oh oh I’ve got a brilliant idea. I’m going to do this for you. We’re actually going to shoot both seasons back to back. It’s brilliant. And then when you’re home, look, you’ll be home for a long time, so it’s brilliant.’ ‘Mark, you coming to location for that long a time? ‘Eh, no, Jeff, I can’t, I have a business to run.’ That’s how it goes with Mark. Any time Mark starts a sentence with ‘I have something you’re really going to like’, it means, you’re going to hate this. So like a doctor saying, this won’t hurt much—oh, here we go.”

During my conversation with Probst, I also asked him the inevitable question: His contract is up after season 20, so will he stay on as host? He was noncommittal, although not in a bull**** sort of way. “That will be 10 years, and I really at this point don’t know my own personal feelings about continuing or not. I really don’t,” Probst told me.

“I’m incredibly loyal to Mark, and we have a crew of 325; I don’t want to be the guy that has anything to do with having a hiccup in Survivor. It’s a hard time to have a job, and I have one, and I certainly don’t want to walk away from a job. So I’m not trying to be coy or cagey,” Probst said. “I’ve been telling Mark, 10 years and 20 seasons is a long time to do the same job from a creative standpoint. But then there’s the logical, rational side of, you are employed, you moron.”

Burnett seems confident, however, that the show will continue on for another 10 years. Burnett recently talked to Fancast to promote his new show Wedding Day, TNT’s first reality series, and said, “On the last Thursday, ‘Survivor’ beat ‘CSI.’ Survivor’ is untouchable on Thursdays at eight. Everything that’s thrown at it, they don’t come close. If a show stays on, it stays on. ‘America’s Most Wanted’ has been on for 20 years, there’s no reason ‘Survivor’ won’t be on for 20 years.”

The obvious question, of course, is whether there’s a way Survivor could be on without Probst, who has anchored the show since the beginning, if he decides 10 years is enough. I think replacing him would be nearly impossible without restructuring the show, because sticking someone in his place would just highlight how critical he is to the show, never mind his off-camera work.


http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/survivor_20/2009_Jun_15_probst_back_to_back

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