Although Survivor 48 just premiered on the 2025 TV schedule, fans are as excited as ever for the upcoming 50th season. Longtime host Jeff Probst revealed in 2024 that the milestone season will bring back fan-favorite players, but as of early January, they had not yet landed on a premise. Overall, Probst has been open about the stress-inducing problems surrounding the milestone installment, and he’s now shedding some light on what the casting process has been like.
Considering there are 48 seasons of Survivor, it’s impossible to cast all of the fan-favorites, villains, underdogs and champions in one season (as evidenced by a new card game that Survivor put out that didn’t include some favorites, like Parvati Shallow). To prove that point again, Probst told TVLine that the casting process for 50 has been brutal, especially since only 20 people will be competing:
I am open to ideas! We had about 200 [to start], and we said, ‘OK, these are all interesting names,’ and you can make a different case for each of them. Then we got it down to 100. That first cut was brutal! Then we got it down to 70, and now there’s blood everywhere! So, I am not gonna lie and tell you we know who’s going to be on the show right now because we don’t.
This isn’t the first time Survivor has had returning players only for a season, but since it is Season 50, the pressure is really on.
While it’s likely not everyone wants to return, it sounds like there are many more who would love nothing more than to come back for the milestone season. To that point, Probst understands that you can’t please everyone, but he’s still excited for the group that will eventually represent Survivor 50:
It was extremely exciting and painfully difficult to do because there are going to be people disappointed all over the place, but there’s going to be a lot of people very excited to be the representative of our 50th season.
Of course, the casting process is not all that Probst and the crew are worried about.
There’s also trying to figure out what the 50th season will actually consist of. Thinking about that, widdling down hundreds of players to just 20 may end up being an easier hurdle to jump over. Since it is Season 50, they definitely have to go big or go home for the challenges, but unlike with the casting, Probst admits that he’s getting some help from dedicated fans when it comes to designing the game:
It is still, even in this moment, a little terrifying because we’re used to designing the game. There’s symmetry, there’s a payoff, we know what’s going to be in the game… But this is going to truly be an experiment, and I think it is the next evolution, which is, ‘Let’s give the fans an array of choices, and let’s see what they choose and see what game we end up with!'
It sounds like there is a lot going into Survivor 50, between the casting, the game and everything in between. At this point, it’s hard to tell who will be competing, and it’s likely some fans won’t be happy with who is included or who isn’t. But Probst is taking great care in making sure this is a season fans won’t forget.
There are still two full seasons of Survivor to get through before Survivor 50 is here, so at least fans will be plenty occupied until then. It’s likely more details will be revealed in the coming months, but for now, the grueling process continues with casting and game design. However, for now, Survivor 48 airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, and is streaming the next day with a Paramount+ subscription.
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