Among Survivor's biggest fans, it has long been common knowledge that the show flies alternate players out with each season's cast. That way, if one of the confirmed players can't compete for any reason, there is someone there who can take their place. In most cases, when alternates have been thrust into the game in the past, it has been for health reasons that weren't the fault of the removed players. As a result, when Jeff Probst previously revealed that two Survivor 49 players had been removed, observers may have assumed that health issues forced their exits.
When fans were learning about Survivor 49's cast, however, it didn't take long for Jeff to reveal that the season's two removed players had been taken out because they broke the show's rules. Even though fans were more interested in learning things like when Survivor 50 finished filming, at that time, the fact that two players were kicked out of the game fascinated otherwise distracted fans. Now, Jeff has revealed exactly why the players were removed, and he has called out their behavior publicly.
Jeff Probst called out Survivor 49's two removed players
Since 2023, each Survivor episode's premiere has been accompanied by the release of an episode of the "On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast." After the first episode of Survivor 49 aired on CBS, an episode of that podcast was released that was especially newsworthy. Partway through the podcast episode, Jeff began describing why two Survivor 49 players were removed before the game began. The reality show's host began by describing part of what Survivor players go through before the competition starts.
“So the way it works is in the days leading up to the beginning of the game, all the players are together. They're at a place we call Ponderosa. So you have all of your competitors, but you're not allowed to talk. That's why we have so many handlers there to make sure nobody's talking. You can obviously look at each other, you can try to make eye contact. That might work for you, it might not.… A lot of people scribbled down assessments of their players. Like, ‘I think this,’ or ‘Maybe I'll get aligned with that person, whatever.’”
From there, Jeff began describing why things went wrong for Survivor 49's removed players. As the show's host explained, there are rules in place during the time that players are living at Ponderosa. One of those rules is that the players aren't allowed to speak to one another before the game begins. That rule exists to protect the integrity of the game and make sure those initial conversations can be filmed during the game. As Jeff explained during the podcast episode, he was informed that the two removed players were disrespecting that important rule.
“The only thing is we have rules. And the rules are you cannot talk to each other, for obvious reasons. And in this season, season 49, we had two players who were disrespecting that rule. They just kept talking. So much so that I got a call from our Ponderosa team saying, 'There's a level of concern.’”
After learning what had been going on, Jeff initially tried to give the two players a chance to correct their behavior. While talking on the podcast, the host explained that the Ponderosa team was asked to bluntly tell the rule-breakers to start abiding by the rules. While that was supposed to be happening, Jeff met with the team in charge of Survivor to tell them that there might be a major problem.
“So we asked [the Ponderosa team], ‘Please remind them with a stern warning that you can't talk.’ And I went and met with our executive team and said, ‘Look, we might have a situation.’"
Amazingly enough, Jeff says that the two removed players very quickly went back to breaking the rules. In fact, the host stated during the podcast episode that the rule-breakers went back to flaunting the instructions they'd just received before the leadership meeting even finished. Jeff then explained that the decision was made at that moment to remove the two players.
""Before we could even finish our discussion, I got a second phone call saying that the level of disrespect had reached an even more blatant level. That was all it took. Candidly, the decision was made in that moment to immediately remove those two players from the game and replace them with our alternates, Jason and MC.""Jeff Probst
Jeff finished his description of the situation by explaining how the series of events affected Survivor 49's other players. The reality show's host also explained why the people in charge of the reality show felt the player removals had to happen.
"It sent shock ways through the rest of the players as it was very clear that something was happening with those players. What really happened was the players, once they were able to talk, they thanked our producers because they said ‘We were all aware that this was happening. And it felt like cheating. Like there was an advantage being had.’ And now they're in the situation of: 'Should I do that as well?' It's the first time in history we've ever done this, which is saying something. We've done this 49 times, several hundred people have played. But it should be clear to future players, although I doubt this will ever happen again, to just know we will not hesitate to pull you from the game. It doesn't matter how much time or money we've invested in you, we value the integrity of the game more than anything."
Survivor 49 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.