Survivor host Jeff Probst found himself in hot water with fans after he accidentally revealed the outcome of the season 50 finale’s challenge live on the air.
During the Wednesday, May 20, finale, Probst, 64, referred to contestant Rizo Velovic as “the final member of our jury” before the fire-making challenge had finished airing. The comment inadvertently spoiled to viewers that Velovic had lost.
“I love doing live television,” Probst joked. “What just happened?”
One contestant called out, “They haven’t seen the fire,” while Velovic clarified, “Fire hasn’t happened yet.” As the audience groaned, Probst admitted, “I’m not even sure what happened but up next, we’re going to have one final surprise for the players.”
In the episode, Aubry Bracco won the final immunity challenge and saved Joe Hunter, which sent Velovic and Jonathan Young into the fire-making challenge. Bracco was ultimately crowned the winner of season 50, with Young placing runner-up.
Scroll down to see what Probst and Survivor stars said about the finale spoiler:
Jeff Probst Tries to Frame Spoiler as a Planned Twist
After returning from a commercial break, Probst attempted to spin the mistake as an intentional storytelling choice.
“In case you’re confused, this is what happened,” he explained. “We were going to show you fire-making and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about if he had practiced fire-making maybe he would’ve won. Instead, we did a Survivor twist, it’s the last twist of the season. We call it, ‘A peek into the future.’ So now, we’re going to watch Rizo lose in a fire to Jonathan.”
Rizo Velovic Reacts to the ‘Survivor’ Finale Moment
Velovic found humor in being part of the show’s first major finale flub. “Survivor history!” Velovic told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “Jeff was on a Variety interview recently saying that he wants to edit Survivor with the person going home and then showing how they go home. And he did it the next day, and it was me! I made Survivor history.”
The contestant added, “Never been voted out of Survivor, two times playing, only one of four people ever that happened to. And also the first finale flub ever in 50 seasons and the RizGod was a part of it. So that’s what happened.”
Velovic knew something was off the moment Probst called him out from the green room. “So my understanding was they were under the assumption fire already happened,” he told the outlet. “But I was in the green room saying like, ‘Wait, I’m waiting for myself to lose here. What are we doing?’ And Jeff’s like, ‘Bring out RizGod. And they’re like, ‘You’re up!’ And I’m like, ‘OK, I’m gonna work with what we got here.’”
He continued, “I’m playing off Jeff, and Jeff is talking about fire and I was like: Well, I’m not trying to reveal it. So I’m like, ‘Win or lose, I’m proud of how I played.’ And Jeff’s like, ‘Sit your ass on the bench.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, this is awkward.’”
Velovic shared that he and Probst “recovered well,” adding, “I made a little joke with Jeff live on stage. I thought it was fine.”
Survivor’s Tiffany Ervin Reacts to the Finale Flub
Tiffany Ervin, who finished fifth, was also on stage when the spoiler dropped. “I was very confused,” Ervin told Entertainment Weekly. “The one thing I’ve learned is not to not question Jeff because he knows what he’s doing 99.999 percent of the time. I think we were all shocked. We really didn’t know what was going on. I think it was just a human moment. It’s Survivor and it’s just the story of what we all do. We’re vulnerable in front of the world. We make mistakes. And Jeff is no different.”
