Drop your Buffs — the Survivor 49 merge has arrived! And Jeff Probst is walking us through what to expect.
Airing tonight on CBS, this season’s merge comes as the remaining 11 players have experienced more tribal cross-pollination than usual due to the prior swaps in Episodes 4 and 6. The host-showrunner provides Gold Derby with an exclusive photo (see above), and tells us all about the upcoming seventh episode, titled “Blood Will Be Drawn,” including how important it is for the contestants to write their own stories, particularly with Season 50 (an all-stars cycle) looming in the background.
Heading into Wednesday’s 90-minute episode, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Jawan Pitts, and Steven Ramm of the new Kele tribe had just voted together to send home Shannon Fairweather. Elsewhere, the new Hina tribe consisted of Sophi Balerdi, Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu, Savannah Louie, and Rizo Velovic. And the new Uli tribe included Kristina Mills, Alex Moore, Nate Moore, and Sophie Segreti.
Jeff Probst at tribal council in Season 49Robert Voets/CBS
Here is Gold Derby’s complete Q&A with Jeff Probst:
With spots on Season 50 still up for grabs, this has the potential to be one of the most important merges in Survivor history. Am I being hyperbolic, or is that how you feel, too?
That’s interesting. I didn’t really think of it that way! I’ll take you inside our thought process as to why we told the players there were still spots available in Survivor 50. The first reason was that it was important to me that the Survivor 49 players understood that Survivor 49 was not simply the season before Survivor 50. This was our 49th season and it mattered just as much as any other season. And to really highlight that, I shared that there were still spots available for Survivor 50.
I was, however, very clear in saying that it wasn’t a guarantee, that someone from 49 would be on 50, it was merely a possibility. If one or more players really made their mark, then they might find themselves playing in our 50th season. To your point, it absolutely lit a fire in their bellies. Now they had even more to prove and more to play for. And now the fun for the fans will be figuring out which two players we felt made a big enough impact that we invited them to take part in Survivor 50!
The Season 49 merge hugRobert Voets/CBS
From a technical standpoint, how do you decide which beach to use as the merge beach?
That’s really just a logistical question and it’s usually centered around one of two considerations. The first is which beach is closest to basecamp as that makes a big difference in our boat runs to deliver supplies. And the other is if there is a beach that could use a break so that it can begin to regrow and replenish without people living there.
Picking new Buffs for the Season 49 mergeRobert Voets/CBS
There was so much tribal cross-pollination this year because of the prior swaps. Talk about that aspect of the merge.
Tribe swaps are always a game changer because you face a new dilemma — do you try to stay loyal to your old tribe members and hope to be reunited soon, or do you forge a new alliance with the people on your new tribe? There isn’t a right answer. That’s what makes it a dilemma. It’s always player and situation specific.
Multiple chickens are alive heading into the merge. As a storyteller, what do you hope the chicken dilemma brings to the show?
Introducing chickens always adds another layer of complication because of the decisions it forces a tribe to make. Do you use the chickens for their eggs? Do you decide to eat the chickens for nourishment? If so, who is going to do the work of preparing the chicken for the tribe? And what do you do if someone on your tribe is vegetarian and might have a moral objection to the killing of a chicken. As with anything we put into the show, we don’t have an expectation or hope for what will happen. The questions and decisions it presents are enough!
Gold Derby previously asked Probst what happens to the old, dirty Buffs that are thrown onto the ground after a swap or merge. He responded: “That’s a great question. The Buff is one of the very few things a player gets to take home with them. So, anytime there is a tribe swap or a merge, we wait until the players are gone, and then we gather their Buffs, put them in a bag and label them. Then when the season is over, we send them to the players along with their torch!”
Survivor 49 airs Wednesday nights on CBS and streams later on Paramount+.