*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE SURVIVOR 50 FINALE*
Survivor host Jeff Probst made a huge on-air mistake when he accidentally spoiled the top three finalists during the latest season of the US series of the hugely popular show.
During last night’s season finale, Probst invited contestant Rizo Velovic onto the stage prematurely which in turn revealed that he had been victorious in the fire-making competition against fellow contestant Jonathan Yang.
Unfortunately for Probst, the fire-making competition had yet to actually air for viewers.
Earlier in the show’s episode, Aubry Bracco triumphed in the final immunity challenge and chose Velovic and Young to compete in the iconic Survivor challenge, which determines the final three competitors of a season.
As Velovic took to the stage, the audience and eliminated contestants appeared visibly confused.
“What just happened?” Probst questioned, to which the eliminated Survivor contestants told the host and showrunner that “fire hasn’t happened yet” in the episode to the sound of audible boos.
When the show returned from its advert break, Probst poked fun at his mistake and shed light on how it happened.
“I love doing live television. In case you’re confused, this is what happened,” Probst said. “We were going to show you fire-making, and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about how charming he is and if how he had practised fire-making, maybe he would have won. Instead, we did a Survivor twist. It’s the last twist of the season. We called it a peak into the future. So now, we’re gonna watch Rizo lose in fire to Jonathan.”
Following the on-air blunder, viewers rushed to social media to criticise Probst for his big mistake.
“The most ridiculous screw up in Survivor finale history. What a gigantic blunder on live TV. Yikes. Is that on Probst or production who sent Rizo out there?” remarked one viewer.
Another joked: “As someone who missed the Will Smith slap live, this was the wildest live TV moment I’ve ever seen. RIP to whoever just lost their job #Survivor50”.
“This simply can’t happen. The choice to address it after the commercial was insane too. Most uncomfortable reunion moment since the live 2nd chance cast reveal,” remarked a third fan of the show.
Another slammed long-running host and showrunner Probst, saying: “This was so disheartening. What a mess!”
Others criticised the current format for the show’s finale, claiming it’s no wonder Probst made a mistake: “This all goes back to the awful finale format.. jumping from live, to taped, to live, to taped… it’s like a bad novel. Go back to the old finale format. Finish the damn game, then go live”
When the spoiled fire-making competition finally unfolded on screen, audience members in the studio could be heard chanting Velovic’s name.
Ultimately, it was Aubry Bracco who was crowned the winner of the latest season. He ended up winning with a total of eight votes, while the fan-voted Sia Award, which comes with a $100,000 prize, was given to Cirie Fields.