The longtime host of Survivor made a major mistake during the show's live fiftieth season finale that spoiled a crucial part of the competition. Jeff Probst, 64, accidentally revealed the winner of a final-four fire-making challenge live on-air, before the segment actually played.
Gasps rang out as a result. 'What just happened?' Probst asked, turning to the camera. 'Fire hasn't happened yet,' an eliminated castaway said. Shortly before, the host had welcomed final-four contestant Rizo Velovic to the stage. Immediately, he made a quip about Velovic's hapless fire-making. Probst then urged him to take a seat as a member of the jury, which consists of eliminated castaways.
'This is it! These are the people! Their games fell a little short, but this is the group! That is going to-' Probst proclaimed, cutting himself off after some awkward silence. Members of the jury realized the mistake before the host did. Crosstalk and a few laughs from the jury followed, as did several audience groans.
'They didn't show the fire,' a now-seated Velovic said. The still-to-come segment would show him losing to Jonathan Young, who in turn lost to Aubry Bracco and Joe Hunter in the Final Three. Bracco took home the $2 million grand-prize.
'Huh?' Probst answered, as others frantically tried to explain. 'I'm not even sure what's happened,' he added. 'Keep going,' someone said off-camera. A commercial quickly followed. Someone in the audience filmed the chaos that ensued, with contestants seen laughing and a visibly confused Probst walking around and interacting with showrunners. A post of the clip has received more than 1 million views.
Once back on-screen, Probst cracked that the gaffe had merely been a 'peek into the future.' 'I love doing live television. In case you're confused, this is what happened,' he began. '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 he had practiced fire-making, maybe he would've won. So now, we're going to watch Rizo lose in a fire to Jonathan,' he added.
Velovic, 26, later framed the blunder as 'a memorable moment' in a Thursday interview with USA Today. 'I'm a part of history. I never thought that would have happened to me,' he said. 'Survivor history!' he similarly joked to Entertainment Weekly. He recalled how he came to the realization in real time and followed Probst's lead. 'I'm playing off Jeff, and Jeff is talking about fire and I was like: Well, I'm not trying to reveal it. So I'm like, "Win or lose, I'm proud of how I played." And Jeff's like, "Sit your a** on the bench." And I'm like, "Well, this is awkward."' Velovic added that he thought he and Probst 'recovered well.' 'I made a little joke with Jeff live on stage. I thought it was fine.'
