Survivor season 50: Jeff Probst on narrowing down cast

It remains true that Survivor season 50 is a good year and a half away from airing. However, at the same time you have to start preparing now! Production will take place for it at some point next year, and this is a challenging season since returning players are such a big part of it.

Basically, what Jeff Probst and the rest of the producing team have to do here is figuring out 18-20 players who are worthy of taking part in such an iconic season. You do not just want to repeat everything that you’ve done before; we’ve already seen Winners at War, after all. We do imagine that some of those cast members will be here, but so could a lot of new-era players and some legends from far in the past. We just hope that there’s some balance so that some people do not just get picked off outright.

Speaking to Variety, Probst goes through some of what has been done at this point in getting together the show:

“We’re trying to figure out who’s gonna play in ‘Survivor’ 50. We know it’s gonna be returning players. We started out with a list of around 200, like, every person we would like to see, regardless of whether they want to do it or not. And then we got the list down to 125 and now I have it down to around 100 … I printed out their faces on 4×6 magnetic sheets with their names, the season they first played, and how old they will be if they play in 50. I’m going to put them on the whiteboard and take in the very first steps toward what I think will go down as the most enjoyable problem we’ve ever had to solve: How are you going to get this down to a handful of people to play ‘Survivor’ 50 that will satisfy the fans and will honor 50 seasons?”

The biggest thing we just hope is that you cast people who are really eager to play and still have something more in the tank in terms of their story. Whether it be Borneo, Gabon, David vs. Goliath, or the new seasons, there are some fun players who have never gotten a second chance to play! We would like some of them in here amidst the legends.

Related – Get some more discussion on Survivor leading into the start of season 47 and a two-hour launch

Who do you most want to see as a part of Survivor season 50?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do that, come back — there are some other updates coming up soon.