‘Survivor 50’ host Jeff Probst on Savannah and Rizo going back-to-back

It all started with Rupert Boneham, the first player to compete on back-to-back Survivor seasons. But when Rupert showed up for his second stint on Survivor: All-Stars, his new tribe mates had seen at least part of his previous season (Pearl Islands), which had aired prior to filming, making them familiar with his game.

Same with Amanda Kimmel and James Clement when they went straight from China to Micronesia — players from their second go-round had seen at least some of their first outings.

Sometimes back-to-backers’ entire game was on display, like when Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard double dipped on Palau and Guatemala. In that case, the cast of Guatemala newbies had seen their entire first season and knew exactly who was standing dramatically in front of them on that Mayan temple.

Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. 

In all those cases, the players appearing on consecutive seasons had at least a few months of recovery time between seasons. That all changed when Russell Hantz showed up for Heroes vs. Villains just two weeks after finishing up on Samoa. None of the season 20 cast mates had seen a single second of his game. All they were told was that he would be on the Villains tribe and they could make of that what they would.

With the exception of the Cambodia season (which filmed as season 32 but aired out-of-order as 31), back-to-backers since have always come into the game as a total mystery with only a roughly two-week break in between. That list was comprised of Malcolm Freberg (Philippines to Caramoan) as well as Zeke Smith and Michaela Bradshaw (Millennials vs. Gen X to Game Changers). And now you can add two more names: Survivor 49 winner Savannah Louie and fourth-place finisher Rizo Velovic.

Could host Jeff Probst notice the mental, emotional, and physical wear and tear on Savannah and Rizo when they showed up for Survivor 50?

“That’s really interesting,” the host told Entertainment Weekly in Fiji on day 3 of filming. “I never thought about it.”

So I guess that’s a… no?

“They had about 10 days back home, so they could eat and sleep and get reacquainted with their family before they left again,” Probst notes.

As this reporter can attest from being on the beach for the day 1 marooning, the energy level for all 24 returning players was sky high. “My hunch — and this is completely unfounded, it’s just my hunch — is that the adrenaline of Survivor 50 fueled everybody,” Probst says, “whether it had been 20 years since you played, or 20 days. And that’s the same for our crew.”

While contestants had to endure a long and grueling casting process, producers and the crew have been living and breathing the season even longer to pull off the anniversary installment, all the while juggling multiple seasons (48, 49, and 50) at the same time.

“Without any compare, Survivor 50 is the hardest we’ve worked during prep, pre-production, and production, and we’re just beginning post [on season 49],” says Probst. “But we put in every single thing. We had to make this the very best season we could, and we, too, left it on the field. I feel very good about the results.”

Speaking of results, a big question hovering before the game was whether Savannah should tell the others that she won $1 million on the show only two weeks ago. The season 49 champion told EW she would indeed tell the truth after hearing from a Survivor 49 cast mate that word had leaked to some season 50 players about her finish.

Probst felt Savannah had no choice but to come clean. “Somebody knows how she did, and that’s Rizo. So I think you have to tell people, because that’s their first question. If you get caught in a lie that you won a season and you said you didn’t, you’re done.”

Plus, Savannah is not alone in another way. “She’s not the only winner out there,” Probst points out, with Dee Valladares (season 45) and Kyle Fraser (season 48) also on the cast. “So she’s got company, and that’s one of those layers of returning player seasons that everybody comes in with a different knapsack of advantage and baggage that they have to get through. I mean, imagine what Savannah could say about Rizo!”

Sounds like the man, the myth, the legend may have to watch his back as well.

Survivor 50 premieres Feb. 25 on CBS.