Survivor host Jeff Probst has teased that he's no longer going to be Mr. Nice Guy at Tribal Council when the show returns with Season 46.
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Survivor premieres its new season on Wednesday, February 28 with a special two-hour episode at 8PM ET/PT on CBS, and fans can brace themselves for more cutthroat Tribal Council sessions with a tougher host leading them.
"I'm ready to saddle back up, get on the horse, and sling a few arrows. So I think over the next year, you'll start to see that coming back into play, and I hope the players will enjoy the banter and the back and forth," Jeff revealed to Entertainment Weekly.
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Starting with Season 41 in 2021, Survivor was in post-COVID times and aired as a shorter, more condensed version of the game.
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Given the uncertain and challenging times, players had the tendency to support one another and build each other up in group settings, and Jeff approached each Tribal Council session in a similar manner.
But according to the longtime host of the CBS reality series, viewers are going to see a shift in Jeff's positive and cheerful demeanor next season.
"When the new era started, I was definitely full of positivity, and I wanted to be a show that parents felt good about watching with their kids," Jeff explained.
"There was so much going on in the world. I wanted to say, 'Hey man, this is a safe show. We're still going to talk about uncomfortable things. You'll still root for and against people and all that stuff. But there's going to be an air of: Come on man, let's just do this. Let's figure this out. Let's bring a bunch of people together from different walks of life. Let's just have some fun and play a game. Somebody wins, a lot of people lose.'"
But Tribal Council is apparently no longer going to have a kumbaya vibe to it, and Jeff seems ready to put castaways on the spot, take players out of their comfort zones, and call unsuspecting people out.
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"I did find a different part of my personality coming out at Tribal," Jeff said, "and I think you're going to see it and feel it."
After spending a few days together on location before Survivor 46 even began filming, several castaways reportedly predicted "explosions and arguments" awaited them.
Jeff explained that viewers got a taste of this new tougher side to him during one of the Immunity Challenges on Season 45.
Before a challenge commenced, Jeff offered the merged tribe a big bag of rice as long as a certain number of players would agree to sit out of the challenge and lose their chance at safety.
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Jeff put immediate pressure on the cast by suddenly -- and unexpectedly -- stabbing the bag with a knife, allowing its contents to quickly spill out onto the ground.
"The minute [a Survivor crew member suggested] it, I thought, 'Oh my god, he just unlocked the part of me that needs to come back. He's a hundred percent right,'" Jeff recalled.
Jeff also recently announced on Live With Kelly and Mark that castaways who quit Survivor -- such as Hannah Rose and Sean Edwards from Season 45 -- will no longer have the privilege of getting their torch snuffed by the host.
"That part of me is starting to come back," Jeff reiterated.
Survivor's Season 46 castaways also won't be able to participate in the show's famous auction.
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Jeff revealed to EW that the Survivor auction -- which is loved by both castaways and viewers watching at home -- won't be returning for Season 46 mainly because it takes a lot of resources and planning from a production standpoint.
"Will we do it in 47 and 48? Probably one of the two. Maybe not both," Jeff teased. "But we do love it, fans love it and I love that."
The cast of Survivor's 46th season was announced earlier this month.
Survivor will feature 18 first-timers attempting to outwit, outplay and outlast each other on the islands of Fiji for the $1 million prize.
The 18 new castaways, ages 22 through 48, include an actor, a slot machine salesman, an international brand mentor, a salon owner, and an aerospace technician.
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Following the show's Season 46 premiere, Survivor will air another two-hour episode on Wednesday, March 6 at 8PM ET/PT, and then 90-minute episodes will follow for the rest of the season until its finale, which is typically a three-hour event.