Jeff Probst: We revealed Survivor's winner on-location for the first time since Season 1

Entertainment Weekly

Due to COVID restrictions, Survivor couldn't reunite the cast for a reunion special in Los Angeles as it usually does. So for the first time since Richard Hatch won in 2000, the winner was revealed on-location. "It was a really fun moment for me," Probst tells EW. "After the last jury member voted, I looked over at the final three and then over to the jury and said, "I'll go get the votes." I knew that as I walked away, they were all naturally assuming we were going to do the finale back in Los Angeles months from now. Just like always. I got back to my little booth in the jungle where I check the votes and the first thing I did was look at the votes to see who had won! It was a cool moment, because normally I don't look at the final votes at all. So I savored it, appreciating that Survivor 41 had a winner and that I was about to walk back out and declare a winner in front of the players for the first time in over 20 years. I put the votes in order and then headed back to the players." Probst tells TVLine that after the winner was revealed, there was "something we’re calling the Survivor After Show where we had a really raw and candid conversation about the entire season. And what was great about doing it immediately following the vote was the players were still in the mindset of the game. They had not been influenced by social media and the reactions of fans. They weren’t defending their actions, they were owning them. The only big con to doing it in the jungle is the non-jury cannot be a part of it. That was a big bummer for them and for us, because every player contributed so much this season and we wanted them to be with us, but we just couldn’t find a way to solve it."