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Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa'

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RealityFreakWill:
Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa' episode #5

Man oh man. If you have any kind of a heart, you have to be feeling for Foa Foa. It’s been a long time since a tribe has performed this poorly. You’d have to go all the way back to Survivor: Palau when Stephanie’s tribe was decimated week by week until she was the only person left in her tribe.

I have to stand up for all of the Survivors from this season. It was a very difficult shoot. The rain was constant and it took a real toll on everybody, crew included. It’s so easy to sit at home and say ”oh just get over it,” but it truly is an extremely difficult experience to undergo.

99.99% of the people who say they want to play Survivor, couldn’t handle Survivor. It is an ass-kicking, humility inducing, physically exhausting, and mentally taxing test of the human spirit. In spite of all the challenging comments I make about the Survivors, at the end of the day, I take my hat off to them for embarking on this adventure.

I really do believe that at times the contestants are happy to come to tribal simply to get warm. It’s so hard to send them back to camp especially when it’s pouring down rain and you know their fire has been extinguished by the rain and they’re probably going to have another very wet and cold night.

REWARD CHALLENGE

Ah, I’m so glad I didn’t have to sample any of the Survivor Smoothie’s. They were chunky, smelly, nasty concoctions. The guts of a sea slug? Come on. What kind of a sick mind thinks of this stuff? Oh that’s right, we do. My bad.

INSIGHT: The foods that we use for these types of challenges are not just randomly selected. We always have a local person advising us on the types of foods that locals eat on a regular basis. Once we have a list, we then cull it down to the most unusual and ”gross” foods to serve to the Survivors. As disgusting as the food may seem, we always take precautions to make sure the food is ‘’safe” and is served as it would be to locals. Then again when it’s sea slug guts, there’s really not much you can do other than serve it up.

PERSONAL INSIGHT: The only times I have tried foods in the past are the grubs from Survivor: Borneo, (the crunchy head was the toughest part to get down) the cows blood from Survivor: Kenya (it came straight from the cow into our glasses and tasted like tomato juice), and finally the baked tarantula (I can’t remember which season it was from) which was disgusting. Other than that I always find a way to be ”busy” when there is testing to be done.

Dave Ball and Eric did a good job of getting to Ashlee by making gagging sounds and taunting her about what she was drinking. Challenges like this one are a great example of mind over matter. There isn’t anything in those smoothies that you physically can’t get down your throat; it’s simply a choice where you put your energy and what thoughts you allow in your mind. If you spend all your energy focusing on how bad something is, you are only making it that much more difficult. Ashlee wasn’t able to block it out and she paid the price. The ultimate price.

OVER AT GALU
Russell sent a huge signal to Shambo by sending her back over to Foa Foa, thus eliminating her from the reward feast. Three Galu members sat out of the Survivor Smoothie challenge and yet they all got to eat steak as reward. Shambo was one of the five who had to gut it out and she gets sent away again…? Being a leader is tough, but that move left a mark for sure and it also sent a big message to Foa Foa – Shambo is a free agent. If Shambo makes it to the merge, payback could be painful for Galu.

Russell is really starting to ”feel” the leadership role. The conversation with Russell and Dave Ball regarding making fire was about as annoying as it gets for me. Just step up and make the damn fire. Dave, quit being so passive aggressive. And Russell, when Dave offers to shake hands and make up, stick your damn hand out. Ah, but that is so easy to say when you’re not in the middle of the game of Survivor. Suffering through every minute of every hour of every day…for 39 days…if you’re lucky.

Did you see the rain during the immunity challenge? DUMPING. I love it.

PERSONAL INSIGHT: Nothing makes me happier than rain during a challenge. I am always hustling the crew when I see clouds coming. ”Let’s go, let’s step it up so we’re ready to shoot!” They usually remind me, ”Uh, we are ready to shoot Jeff. Been ready for an hour. You’re the one still fussing with your hair.” Okay that’s a lie, I don’t fuss with my hair, that’s part of the reason I wear a hat. I really do have the greatest job in the world. I throw on a shirt, shorts, a cap and some flip-flops and yell things like ”pick up your coconuts.” Who knew life could be this good? But I will say again here and now – the short sleeve shirts are gone after this season. It was an experiment that didn’t work. I look ridonkulous.

Liz is in trouble. Uh-oh. She challenged Russell. Wow, did you see him turn? He turned in a matter of three seconds. He is frightening. ”You’re walking on thin ice. Right now. Let me tell you. Thin ice. Period.” Whoa. That dude is scary. No wonder nobody votes him out. I wouldn’t. I don’t want him mad at me. Liz survived tonight because of the tremendous effort she gave at the Immunity Challenge. That is the only thing that will save her in the future. Big time effort. Russell has his sights set on taking her out and from what I’ve seen ‘ole Russell is not quick to forgive.

QUICK POLL:
For those of you who respond to this blog, I’d love to hear from you regarding your two favorites to make it to the end and the two you’d least like to see win and why. I’m always curious whom the audience is pulling for. Is it the people who are standing out the most? The most likable? Are there any dark horses in the running? Does anybody want Evil Russell to make it to the end?

TRIBAL COUNCIL
The most interesting thing about Tribal Council was the two very different reactions that Russell and Natalie had after voting out Ashlee. Russell was his typical joyful self but Natalie appeared truly sad to have voted out her friend.

It’s interesting because as the game continues, those little nuances begin to play a much larger role in the game. Russell had just said he trusted Ashlee and more importantly he sat there as Ashlee said she trusted him. Then he voted for her, they all did. As the votes were read, Russell was almost laughing he was so happy. That sends a signal to the others that ”trust” is a loose word with Russell. I think it’s one of his most glaring giveaways. He can’t control his reactions and sooner or later I think it is going to catch up to him.

NEXT TIME ON…SURVIVOR.

INSIGHT: Way back in 2000 at the end of our first episode of the first season, we were getting ready to record the very first ”Next time on…Survivor.” We were in the voice-over booth and we had a bit of a showdown as I was insistent that we leave enough time in the show for a dramatic pause between ”next time on… ” and ”Survivor.” It was one second. One silly second. But when you put a network show together, every single second counts. I’m not exaggerating. You find yourself trimming one second here, two seconds there. So to ”waste” a second for a pause was not something that was normally done, especially for a seemingly meaningless line like ”next time on.” But from the beginning Mark and I always we wanted the show to look and sound different and this was one of the many, albeit small, ways we endeavored to stay true to that philosophy. To this day the pause still lives…

NEXT TIME ON…SURVIVOR for real
Next week’s episode features one of the scariest moments I’ve had in my entire run on Survivor. Check that – the scariest. I’m not trying to over hype. I’m just giving you a tease. I don’t want you to get your expectations so high that you’re let down, but I am going to be honest that for a few seconds during next week’s episode I was really worried we were in danger of losing a contestant… forever.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/10/16/jeff-probst-blogs-survivor-samoa-episode-5/

Jobby:

--- Quote ---TRIBAL COUNCIL
The most interesting thing about Tribal Council was the two very different reactions that Russell and Natalie had after voting out Ashlee. Russell was his typical joyful self but Natalie appeared truly sad to have voted out her friend.

It’s interesting because as the game continues, those little nuances begin to play a much larger role in the game. Russell had just said he trusted Ashlee and more importantly he sat there as Ashlee said she trusted him. Then he voted for her, they all did. As the votes were read, Russell was almost laughing he was so happy. That sends a signal to the others that ”trust” is a loose word with Russell. I think it’s one of his most glaring giveaways. He can’t control his reactions and sooner or later I think it is going to catch up to him.
--- End quote ---

That was really a very very very very good insight. I didn't think about it and... it's amazing how Jeff thinks about such stuff!!!!!

RealityFreakWill:
Jeff Probst blogs 'Survivor: Samoa': episode #6

Rain is a double-edged sword on Survivor. It gives and it takes. We love the layer of drama it adds when you see the contestants shivering, their fingers wrinkled like prunes, as they struggle to make fire. But rain can also bring with it severe, life-threatening problems as it did this week when Russell collapsed due to dehydration.

I’m going to focus this blog on sharing with you everything you didn’t see that happened when Russell went down.

INSIGHT:
During the early stage of the challenge when they were pushing the sphere, I was completely unaware that Russell was struggling. I noticed he was tired but that is not unusual during a challenge and so I thought nothing much of it.

Even when they reached the maze, I noticed it taking him a long time to get himself over to the maze, but he was blindfolded and I am watching 13 other people, so once again I wasn’t overly concerned because exhaustion is normal and in fact, the effort someone puts into a challenge is often a determining factor in whether they stay or are voted out.

Russell had always given 100% so it didn’t surprise me to see him exhausted.

It was when his head went down and stayed that it started to become clear that something wasn’t right. But because he was blindfolded and I couldn’t see his eyes, it was again very hard to determine if he was just tired or in some kind of real trouble.

When I watch the episode edited with the luxury of close ups, it seems much more obvious that Russell was not doing well and I wish I had gotten there sooner. I can only tell you that from my vantage point, in the midst of everything going on – 10 people running a challenge, 4 others on the sit out bench and a challenge to oversee, he was only one of the things I was keeping an eye on.

As a result, I had no idea that he actually had already passed out for the first time while he was standing at the maze, but that is exactly what our doctors think happened. They think he had already passed out once before I even got to him.

When a Survivor appears to be in trouble, our first rule is to give them the chance to save themselves or see if one of their tribemates can help them before we make any decision about sending in medical, safety, or our water rescue team. We do this because it is their game, their adventure and whenever possible we want them to make the decisions about their fate.

Let me be clear, we are watching them the entire time, they are never out of our sight, and our medical, safety and rescue teams are always on alert – but we would rather give the contestants every chance to handle it themselves before we move in to take over.

But in this case, it happened so fast that I didn’t even consider waiting. I just instinctively called for medical to come in and get to work. Because our medical team is so well run they were prepared for someone to pass out or get injured even before the challenge began. That’s what they do, they prep before the challenge about what could possibly go wrong so they are ready for it. They knew dehydration could be a factor and so when Russell went down they had a plan in place and were helping Russell within seconds of me calling them in.

As you saw, Russell said he was okay… and then immediately passed out again.

Once medical informed me that Russell was going to require some major time-consuming attention I called off the challenge because it seemed the only decision that made sense. There was no way we were going to continue — it was clear Russell was going to require too much time and because both tribes were going to tribal council either way, it didn’t seem to matter enough to consider an alternative. So we sent the tribes back to their camp and told them to await word.

In a moment like that you make a decision. Sometimes it’s the right one, sometimes it’s the wrong one, but you have to make a call. It’s one of the things that I most enjoy about doing a show like Survivor. It is for all intents and purposes, a live show. It would be great to go back and script out all my reactions and comments like a movie, but you can’t do that. All you can do is react and hope your decision makes sense. I’m sure many people will feel canceling the challenge was “lame” or “silly” but for me it was the only call to make as Russell was the priority and that’s that.

At this point our challenge crew led by our director and senior producer Dave Dryden became reality shooters and producers. Dryden quickly re-positioned them so they could cover the unfolding drama. Their ability to quickly reconnoiter is why we have such great coverage of everything that went down.

For the next 45 minutes we monitored Russell’s vital signs. We gave him water from his canteen. We gave him oxygen. We propped him up and gave him time to try to relax and get calm.

During that time Russell and I talked about a lot of things. He was very worried that he would be pulled from the game. He was worried how he would be portrayed and what his family would think. He did not want to be seen as a quitter.

That’s why I tried to recap everything that had happened up to Russell up to this point – how dominant he had been in the game, his leadership, his physical capability. I was trying to make the point that no matter what happens, he would never been seen as someone who gave less than 100%.

I explained to him that he had already passed out two times, but his recollection at that point was so foggy he didn’t understand. He thought he was fine and was demanding to be put back into the challenge. In fact, I don’t think he even realized that everybody else had already been sent back to camp and the challenge called off.

Even with all of this going on, our doctors assured him that if his vitals came back strong they would allow him to stay in the game.

Nobody wanted Russell to go home.

When Russell passed out for the third time, I got very worried. Then his heart rate dropped 30 beats in less than a second. I was watching the heart rate monitor and when I saw it move from 97 to 68, I was honestly concerned that we were losing him. Forever.

Even writing this brings back the same emotion.

Our doctors were not exaggerating or play acting when they started pounding on Russell’s chest and repeating his name, asking him “Russell, are you with us?” It seemed to go on forever, his eyes not moving, not responding to anything.

I have never been more proud of our medical team than I was in that moment. Heroic. Incredibly calm. Well practiced. They knew exactly what they needed to do and they didn’t waste a moment.

Telling Russell he was being pulled from the game was difficult. I understood that he didn’t want to quit. He was in a great position in the game and there was such a fire in his belly. Many people have been pulled from the game that didn’t want to go, for some reason this one really got to me.

What you didn’t see was that after Russell pulled off his oxygen mask in frustration, he experienced a lot of different emotions, all of them completely understandable. He was extremely frustrated at me, at medical, and at production in general for pulling him from the game. He yelled. Then, he got quiet. Then, he cried. Finally, he prayed. It was extremely emotional and simultaneously beautiful. He was in a very vulnerable state and to be a witness as he processed the situation and made peace with it was an honor.

I’m guessing that Russell had no idea how bad it was until he saw the episode last night. I think he will be surprised at how serious it was and will realize that he is not a quitter and there was no other decision to be made other than to pull him from the game.

After Russell was removed we then had to make a decision whether to continue with our double tribal council or cancel it.

SIDE LINE: For the record, I have always hated the “win or lose, you must vote someone out” twist, but it’s existence comes from necessity. Let me explain: We would prefer to start the show with only 16 contestants. It’s much easier for the audience to get to know 16 people. But it gives us no wiggle room if someone quits or has to leave the game due to medical emergency.

If we start with 18, that gives us a bit of breathing room in terms of numbers but also gives us an uneven number of men and women on each tribe.

If we start with 20, as we did this year, it gives us plenty of wiggle room for quits or medical evacuation, but because we have 4 extra people we have to get rid of them at some point. Thus the “win or lose, you’re voting somebody out” scenario. I am happy to say that we have since figured out a better way to do double eliminations. So should we ever need to vote out two people in one episode it will not be a “win or lose both tribes going to tribal council” scenario.

BACK TO INSIGHT: So… what to do? We gathered the creative team and the decision was made that due to the unprecedented canceling of the challenge, the medical drama, and incredibly difficult conditions the contestants had endured the past several days,  the best move was to make a gesture of good will and spare them from voting anybody out.

Was it was the right move? Depends on your point of view. It was certainly not a “clear-cut this is the only decision to be made” situation. We considered everything and we made what we believed to be the right call. You may disagree. In fact, I’m pretty sure many of you reading this right now are saying, “Hell yes I disagree. You should have voted people out. That’s what Survivor does!” Well, not this time. Sorry.

One thing was very clear, the canceling of the vote did seem to lift their spirits. You could see them begin to re-energize once they heard the news. You saw the rivalry between the two tribes reignite. Why is this important? Because at the end of the day if the Survivors lose their motivation to continue and it turns into a “group” funk, then the show is in serious trouble.

It’s probably hard to appreciate how difficult this season has been, so all I can do is repeat what I’ve said many times – this is a very tough season added to an already very tough game. Remember, we are not giving them food, we are not giving them water. We don’t offer them dry clothes or help them start their fire. We were worried about their welfare and did not want anybody else to be evacuated and certainly didn’t want anyone to decide to quit.

Okay – that’s it from my end. I hope you’re still enjoying the season. One thing that has always been true about Survivor fans, you are loyal. We appreciate it.

Until next week.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/10/23/jeff-probst-blogs-survivor-samoa-episode-6/

tory:
thank you for the post will. jmo i would have like to seen them all get pizza last night a guy drops from dehidration and no one gets pizza???
i felt realy bad for russell and i rember y i did not watch suvivor un till the last 2 seasons i can't stand to see ppl in pain suffering eating bugs and now this rain i hope it gets better last season tas with the bug bites well all of them with the bug bites i wonder to this day if they have scars??? i am such a baby, but it is hard to watch..

Jobby:
I think Jeff kinda know that people are not happy with this season of Survivor from the comments and remarks.. :(

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