Once upon a time, “Survivor” players could rest assured knowing that, on the first day of the competition, they’d receive a ration of rice (however meager) to kick-start the game and keep them sustained for the series of grueling challenges ahead.
All that changed in the New Era, however. Since Season 41, players are no longer guaranteed rice. Instead, castaways have to earn their rations by winning challenges – either Immunity or Reward – to get their hands on basic supplies like food and flint.
Though longtime “Survivor” host Jeff Probst used to enter into so-called “rice negotiations” with New Era players part-way through the now 26-day game, offering them more food if a certain portion of the remaining castaways agreed to give up their shot at Individual Immunity, more and more casts have been refusing Probst’s negotiations outright as the New Era has continued.
Now, as the highly-anticipated premiere of “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” approaches, Probst and CBS are looking to shake up the long-running competition series format yet again, with Probst revealing that “Survivor” might stop offering its players rice altogether after the upcoming returning players season.
Probst Says ‘Survivor’ Might Stop Giving Players Rice
During a November 26 episode of “On Fire with Jeff Probst,” the official “Survivor” recap podcast, co-host Jay Wolff asked Probst if CBS would consider taking the food scarcity players face even further in future seasons.
“Do you feel like you’re approaching a point where, on ‘Survivor,’ rice is not even worth offering?” asked Wolff.
Getty“Yeah, maybe,” Probst responded. “I mean, it’s an evolving situation, and it makes me very happy because I love it when the players evolve the game. To your point, if you go back to ‘Survivor 41,’ they were all shocked that there was no food. And when it gave them an opportunity for rice, they all negotiated with each other about who should sit out. And then, as you said, Shot in the Darks got used one time in the negotiation, and now it’s like, I think we’re good. So who knows? For ‘Survivor 50,’ because the fans voted on that, they had the opportunity to give the players food or give the players supplies. But with ‘Survivor 51’ and beyond, maybe we revisit this. It’s undecided.”
Jeremy Collins Weighs in on New Era ‘Rice Negotiations’
Former “Survivor” champion Jeremy Collins, who also co-hosts “On Fire” alongside Probst and Wolff, added that, for serious players, there’s no choice when it comes to giving up safety in the game for a bit of extra food.
CBS/Getty“It’s never good to give up your shot at immunity,” said Collins. “You don’t want to give up your shot, and then you eat, and then you get voted out that night. That’s the worst thing to ever do is be eating the next day as much rice as you want because you gave up your shot. There’s nothing worse than that.”
Collins added that old-school “Survivor” players like Ozzy Lusth, Cirie Fields, and Colby Donaldson – all of whom are returning for Season 50 in February – might struggle to adapt to the New Era’s lack of sustenance compared to their original seasons.
“When I played, I never wanted to give up,” Collins said. “I played on a season where we would give up all our comforts. Oh, Jeff is here; he’s going to take everything from us, all our tarps, our pillows, our chairs. He’s taking everything for a bag of rice, and I’m like, ‘We can eat tomorrow. The merge is coming.’ So I’m never comfortable with that. But this is the New Era. The New Era is, there is no food. So I don’t know how everybody else is feeling out there, and when they don’t eat at all, I don’t know how they feel. And old Survivors, they need to get ready for that because we’re not used to not having anything.”
Of the 24 former castaways returning for “Survivor 50,” exactly half of them are old-school players who aren’t acquainted with playing the game in its New Era format.
