Will ‘Survivor’ Eliminate Immunity Challenges? Jeff Probst Is Open to the Idea

Survivor is in the midst of a hiatus as fans wait for the premiere of season 44. And while the upcoming game will have a similar format to the three “new era” seasons that came before it, Survivor host Jeff Probst is contemplating a significant change to the CBS series following season 44.

Jeff Probst has hosted ‘Survivor’ since season 1

The CBS reality competition series Survivor has many recognizable features, and one of them is Jeff Probst.

Survivor premiered in 2000 with Probst as its host, and it was an immediate success. Forty-three seasons later, he is still the host and, in our opinion, is part of what has made Survivor so successful. Probst has coined many of the show’s phrases, including “The tribe has spoken” and “Drop your buffs.” And his demeanor and enthusiasm have always been entertaining to watch.

Let’s just say, Survivor wouldn’t be Survivor without Jeff Probst. The series also wouldn’t be the same without Immunity Challenges, where the castaways compete against one another for immunity at the next Tribal Council. However, the host previously teased that Survivor might try eliminating Immunity Challenges in a future season.

Will the CBS series ever get rid of Immunity Challenges?

During an interview with The Friendship Onion podcast in October 2022, Jeff Probst discussed the format of Survivor and how it could evolve in future seasons.

“I think the format is philosophical,” the host explained. “You take a group of people, strangers, typically, unless you’re doing an All-Star season, and you force them to live together where they must rely on each other to survive while simultaneously voting each other out. And, in the end, a group of the people that you voted out will now decide who wins … who played the best game. And what’s the best game depends on the people deciding. For me, that’s it.”

Probst added, “You could add in there are Reward Challenges; there are Immunity Challenges. Maybe. Maybe you don’t have to have them, right? We don’t know. We may get to a season where we don’t do that, and people will go, ‘Oh my God, you’ve blown it again!'”

Reward Challenges have become less frequent in recent seasons, probably to account for the new 26-day format. However, Immunity Challenges have always been a prominent staple in Survivor. How would the show work without them?

‘Survivor’ fans react to Jeff Probst’s comments

Although Jeff Probst was only proposing a hypothetical during the interview, it’s quite possible that Survivor could eliminate Immunity Challenges for one season. That would mean that no one would be safe during Tribal Council, which could make things very interesting or very messy. And in a Reddit thread, Survivor fans discussed the possibility of no Immunity Challenges.

“There is a large portion of the casual audience who watches primarily for the challenges,” one Reddit user pointed out. “So this would be an absolutely horrible decision for ratings.”

A fan commented, “I don’t even watch challenges anymore because of how redundant they are. It USED to be part of the charm of the show, back when they had greater variety.”

“I think the challenges are a way to put this group of strangers in stressful, competitive situations, essentially fast-forwarding what would happen to a group of strangers actually stranded on an island together,” someone else added. “To get rid of the challenges while maintaining the same level of shared experience among the tribe, you’d have to leave them on the island way longer — like months. And we all know that ain’t happening.”

Survivor, hosted by Jeff Probst, is available to stream on Paramount+.