Survivor is returning this fall, and CBS has announced the official premiere date for Season 41.
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Survivor's premiere episode will be two-hours long and followed by a one-hour episode of Big Brother's currently-airing season from 10-11PM ET/PT.
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Survivor will then continue to air new episodes on Wednesday nights in its normal 8-9PM ET/PT timeslot beginning on September 29.
Survivor will be celebrating 21 years on the air this fall, and the show's longtime host Jeff Probst teased in early June there will be "new things" going down next season.
Jeff, 59, posted a video on Twitter at the time in which he recorded himself standing on a beach in Fiji, where Survivor was shooting Season 41.
"I can't believe it's been 21 years since the series premiere of @survivorcbs," Jeff tweeted.
"I wanted to find time today to recognize all the loyal fans for the continued support, we would not be going 21 years strong without you. Thank you, I can't wait for you to see S41 on @CBS in the fall."
In the video, Jeff began, "Greetings from Fiji, where it is cold and rainy and windy and we are shooting Survivor. In fact, we are just a few minutes away from shooting a challenge.
"I stepped away so I don't give anything away," he continued, "because I wanted to be a part of celebrating that it was 21 years ago -- May 31st, 2000 -- that we premiered our first season, the first episode."
Jeff went on to give longtime Survivor fans credit for the show's incredible success.
"It's crazy that we're back out here still shooting," Jeff acknowledged.
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"We love it and it's directly because of you guys: loyal Survivor fans who often become dedicated Survivor players, who hopefully go back to being loyal Survivor fans."
"For 21 years you've been with us, we appreciate it," the longtime host added.
"We love making this show, we're out here right now making more. So Survivor 41 will be the beginning of the third decade of Survivor, it premieres in September. I hope you like it, we're trying some new things, as always. You'll let us know."
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Jeff went on to tease how the players were going to be "exhausted" after competing in the challenge and then vote somebody out.
"But that is the dream -- and the dream is still alive 21 years later," Jeff concluded.
Following a year-long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jeff tweeted back in late March that production of the show's 41st season was about to commence soon in Fiji.
"I am thrilled to tell you all that @survivorcbs is going back into production and I will see you on the island for #Survivor 41! @CBS," Jeff wrote on Twitter at the time.
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"We have all of our COVID protocols in place so that everybody in Fiji will remain safe, all of our crew will be safe and, of course, our players will be safe."
The host continued, "And I've got to tell you, I can't remember a time when I've been this pumped to shoot Survivor, and I'll tell you why: The past year has reminded me -- and I hope it's reminded you -- that you've got to live your life like it's one big, great adventure, and Survivor fulfills that."
"So I am thrilled to say I will see you on the island for Survivor 41. Let's do it!" Jeff concluded.
CBS first announced in March 2020 during the onset of coronavirus Survivor would be postponing the back-to-back production of its 41st and 42nd seasons that were originally scheduled to air in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.
Season 41 of Survivor was supposed to begin filming on March 24, 2020 in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, however Jeff informed crew members at the time cameras would not start rolling until at least May 2020 due to COVID-19, according to Entertainment Weekly.
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Season 42 of Survivor was reportedly set to begin filming on May 24, a few weeks after Season 41 was scheduled to wrap production.
When May 2020 rolled around, CBS announced that Season 41 of Survivor was slated to air in Fall 2020 in its longtime Wednesday at 8PM ET/PT timeslot.
However, Jeff admitted in July 2020 that producers still didn't have a plan in place.
"There are all kinds of things happening in the world right now -- certainly they impact the physical aspects of production... Shooting in a foreign country is exponentially more complicated, and we are still exploring them," Jeff explained to The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
"I'm on the phone every couple of days, either with the government of Fiji or with our executive teams that are in charge of logistics and planning. We're continuing to lay out ideas. We don't have a plan yet."
"It's what we're spending all our time doing because it's not like we're going to Atlanta to shoot a show," he added.
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"They've done an incredible job of controlling the virus. They've had a total of only 15 cases in their entire country, and they've had no active cases for months," Jeff said.
"They have figured out how to handle it, and they just want to ensure that when we come shoot there, we don't change that. We're working together with them, but they've been very production-friendly in terms of wanting it to happen."
But since Survivor's crew is comprised of people from all over the world, closed borders and travel bans amid COVID-19 prevented the show from being able to commence filming in Fiji, which has served as Survivor's filming location since Season 33 in 2016.
The start of production was therefore pushed back again until at least September of last year, and Survivor was ultimately pulled from the network's Fall 2020 schedule.
The reality series, which debuted in 2000, had previously aired two seasons per calendar year since 2001, and the 2020-2021 television season marked the first time in nearly two decades Survivor has not aired a fall or spring season on CBS.
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Survivor's most recent edition, Season 40 dubbed Survivor: Winners at War, aired its finale on May 13, 2020.
Returning castaway Tony Vlachos became the franchise's second two-time winner and walked away with the show's largest cash prize in history of $2 million.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
