Survivor 50 Finale Goes Live on CBS: Jeff Probst Explains Why It May Be the Last Time

The Survivor 50 finale arrives on CBS tomorrow night with a major format change: for the first time in years, the show will present a live finale event.

The long-running reality competition has shifted its approach to revealing the winner multiple times throughout its history. In earlier seasons, host Jeff Probst would collect the final votes at tribal council and instruct the final three contestants to meet him in Los Angeles for the vote reveal. In more recent years, the show moved to reading votes immediately in Fiji, with the winner announced directly to the assembled cast.

For this milestone 50th season, Probst decided to resurrect the live finale format. However, he's already signaling it may be a one-time return.

"I'm excited to do it. It's a lot of work to put on a live finale in between shooting two seasons and hosting the season that's currently on — it adds a ton of work," Probst told Variety. "I'm super pumped. The whole team is back from our live show, and we've got a big stage and as many seats. That was the number one goal: let's make the stage beautiful and ornate, and then let's clear as much space as possible to get as many seats as possible."

Despite his enthusiasm for the production itself, Probst expressed reservations about repeating the live format in future seasons. He explained that the spontaneity of a live reveal doesn't serve the show's narrative the way he'd prefer.

"When you do a live finale, all you get is defense. The live finale becomes people defending, and for me, from a storytelling standpoint, I never find it as interesting," Probst said. "So I get the pomp and circumstances, it's super fun, but I think we're going to change the format for the finale — make it more of a three-hour event, rather than a two-and-a-half-hour finale and a 30-minute reunion show."

The shift in approach stems from Probst's observation that contestants respond differently when they've had time to process the season's events, as opposed to reacting in the moment at a live event.

The finale airs May 20 on CBS, though some controversy has surrounded the guest list for the event.