“I just want to be involved”: Survivor host Jeff Probst explains trash-talking on the show

Survivor season 46 aired a brand new episode on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. During the episode, the cast competed in another challenge and participated in another tribal council which resulted in Hunter being sent home.

The challenge saw the cast compete in groups of three but one group didn't have the host's vote of confidence. During Wednesday's episode, Jeff Probst told Q, Liz, and Venus that he thought they were going to be the first team out of the competition and asked them to prove him wrong.

During an episode of On Fire with Jeff Probst, the CBS star spoke to his co-host about the comment and said that he was 'always evolving'. Jeff said that he wished he had a specific approach to how he hosted Survivor but he didn't.

About his trash-talking Q, Venus, and Liz's team, and being proven wrong by the castaways, Probst said that he 'loved' it.

"I have no problem being wrong. I'm wrong all the time. I just like being a part of the game. So when the players engage with me and laugh and banter, or they tell me a lie about something that's happening or that isn't happening, I like all that. I have no problem being wrong. That happens all the time. I just want to be involved," he said.

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"They did a lot better than I thought": Survivor host Jeff Probst discusses Q, Venus, and Liz's performance in season 46 episode 9

In Survivor season 46 episode 9, the castaways divided themselves into teams of three. They then competed in a challenge that consisted of three levels and every level saw one team get eliminated.

Ahead of the challenge, Probst chimed in about the team he considered to be the weakest and said:

"I'm going to put my Survivor fan hat on again and go out on a limb right now, Q, say that you, Liz, and Venus are first out and have no shot."

The three contestants were taken aback by the comments and sarcastically thanked Probst for the 'vote of confidence'. In response, Jeff Probst said that he was saying what everyone watching was thinking.

The Survivor season 46 host added that that was what the game was and wondered what the point of the CBS show was if he couldn't speak his mind. He addressed the team's performance during the podcast and said:

"They didn't win, but they certainly did a lot better than I thought they were going to do."

During the podcast, the host also explained his comments to the Survivor contestants and said that he was being himself and asking the questions that the audience was asking at home. Probst said:

"So when you take the audience's point of view as your point of view, it gives you a lot of room to roam because there is so much human behavior on display and so many decisions being made at any given point."

The host further said that he merged the audience's point of view with his own personality, which was 'endlessly curious'. Probst added that he had always been curious about how and why humans behave the way they do and called hosting the CBS show 'the perfect job' for himself.

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More about Survivor season 46 episode 9

In Wednesday's episode, the cast returned from the tribal council, frustrated with Q for wanting to be voted off of the show. This was followed by a team challenge, during which Charlie won immunity and was safe from being voted out of the jungle.

Season 46 contestants Hunter and Tiffany both had immunity idols but didn't use them during the tribal council and after an intense session and a tie between Hunter and Q, the former was eliminated from the show.

Survivor season 46 will return next week with another episode on CBS.