During the past three years, Jeff Probst has repeatedly made it clear that he didn't enjoy filming 2004's Survivor: All-Stars or 2006's Survivor: Panama season that featured the return of previous Survivor: Palau castaways Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard. However he also realizes that many Survivor fans enjoy seeing familiar faces being brought back to compete as castaways.
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"I will say when the [All-Stars] show aired, and I watched how the Survivor audience, the loyal Survivor audience -- that's the only reason we're still on the air," Probst told reporters during a recent conference call with the Canadian media, according to the Edmonton Journal. "And so I've had to really rethink it and realize my own personal preference is really irrelevant."
Survivor: All-Stars was a ratings juggernaut for CBS, as its post-Super Bowl premiere in February 2004 achieved ratings that the series had not reached since the finale of 2001's Survivor: The Australian Outback and it instantly became the highest rated entertainment broadcast of the 2003-2004 television season. It continued to do very well -- consistently averaging more than 20 million viewers -- with 24.8 million watching the May 2004 finale and 28.36 million watching the reunion show that saw the official formation of "Romber" when Rob Mariano proposed to Amber Brkich.
"This is a show that we make for the people who watch it. And we've been blessed with a loyal fan base," Probst told reporters. "I think they do want another All-Stars, and it would not be out of the question to have another one."
While the fans may love All-Stars installments, Probst explained why they personally grate on him.
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"When we did the first [All-Stars edition] I personally didn’t want to do it. And throughout the filming of the show, I didn’t enjoy it," he told reporters. "There's a lot of problems with people that have already played. One, they forget how miserable it's going to be until they get out there. And then they suddenly remember, 'Oh my god, I'm only on day four.' They become really irritable, and as a result irritating."
Probst also said the fact the most All-Stars castaways had lasted quite a while during their original Survivor edition was also a negative.
"If you've lasted any length of time in the game as most all-stars have, you've learned a little about how the show works, picked up some of our lingo," Probst told reporters. "And you become bigger than a contestant. You're now part of the family. And so you hear people, I mean during the All-Stars it was, 'Is production holding us up?'... things like that. And that just drives me nuts because that's not part of the show."
It's been more than three years and six Survivor installments since the original All-Stars aired, and while there's been no official reports that a second Survivor: All-Stars will be gracing CBS' airwaves any time soon, Probst hinted that it seems logical.
"We're due," he told reporters.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio