WARNING! The following article contains spoilers for the premiere of Survivor 47 . Please do not scroll any further if you do not want to learn the events of this week's episode.
It was a madcap two hours to start Survivor 47 . Much like the mud that greeted the new castaways in the premiere, we were "birthed" into the season in a big way. The typical "Sweat vs. Savvy" challenge changed into a one-on-one battle for tribe supplies. Idols were being found, and drawing suspicion from the competition. And all the action culminated in podcaster Jon Lovett being designated the first one out, something that Jeff Probst did not see coming in the moment.
"Based on how things were after the challenge, I was shocked," the host and executive producer says in the newest episode of "On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast."
Probst had good reason to show surprise at the outcome. The last time he had seen the Gata tribe, one player was causing one of the worst cases of Survivor self-immolation in some time. Following their loss in the first Immunity Challenge, during the follow-up mat chat, Andy Rueda spilled his game open to the entirety of the cast. He remarked that he was on the bottom, feeling a sense of social isolation. He even openly declared that Lovett was his closest ally, and he had already been mentally prepping to throw him under the bus when they got back to camp.
"I thought Andy was done," Probst says. "He seemed to be a massive liability. And I was actually kind of sad as Andy walked off, because I wanted him to get everything he wanted out of this experience, and it didn't seem like it was going to happen."
This season's alumni cohost , Survivor 46 runner-up Charlie Davis , gave his own response to the mat chat outburst. "The first thing I want to say is, if I had to show one clip to a Survivor fan, and to explain to them, 'This is why playing Survivor is so hard,' it would be this clip of Andy.
"He has this paranoia of being at the bottom," Charlie goes on to explain. "He's having self-doubt from his past life experience that's now resurfacing. He has heat exhaustion from competing in a brutal challenge that he had to do on an empty stomach. And all of that comes together and is leading to this blow-up moment where he's spilling all of his beans. And so I feel for Andy here, because everything was hitting him at once. And that is the epitome of Survivor ."
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Andy's mental and emotional struggle followed what was clearly a physical struggle during the challenge. As his tribe members were working on the puzzle at the final stage, he stumbled off to the sideline, lying on the ground and muttering, "I gave everything, Jeff." Though he seemed to be okay, they still chose to call in the medical team to check on him through the end of the challenge.
"I call over Dr Joe," Probst recounts. "Dr. Joe is dashing, and Dr. Joe is British. So he's a British dashing doctor–emphasis on British because the British aren't easily impressed. So once Joe looked at me and said, 'He's just a little overheated,' I knew that was code for 'He's fine,' and that Andy was going to be okay. So, I went back to the challenge.
"But what I love about these moments, from my viewpoint, is that they really highlight the strength of our team and the confidence that I have in my role as a host in that moment," Probst goes on to say. If Andy took a turn for the worse, he knew Dr. Joe and the medical team would take care of him. If his attention was diverted away from the action on the field, the challenge team would take over adjudicating, as they're present to observe every one of their creations play out. "From a host standpoint, it's incredibly freeing," Probst says, "because it gives me the freedom to follow my story instinct and know that we're good no matter which direction I take."
To that point, the story of Gata went in a wildly different direction following the challenge. While it looked like Andy was dead to rights, Jon was concerned that his decoy target might turn into a real target. And so he attempted to turn the tribe against Anika Dhar , which put him in the crosshairs as a strategist. The vote also chiefly came down to an age-old conundrum in the early days of a Survivor season. Do you get rid of the stronger but more disloyal player, or the weaker but more loyal player?
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"We have to look at the results," Charlie says when talking about Andy's mat chat meltdown. "This is a really tough moment for him, because it was in front of the entire cast of players. So this is a major moment that they'll be thinking of when they think of Andy going forward. So if Andy is looking for allies, they may see him as unreliable, someone who can't keep information tight, can't keep it secret. But I would also say–and this is maybe what some savvy players on the Gata tribe did–somebody who's talked about this much can become a target, but they can also become a smokescreen. So it's really up to a savvy player to figure out how to turn a big moment like this to their advantage."
"In hindsight, Jon is obviously a very bright guy, and he's a tremendous storyteller," Probst adds. "And so it really should never be a surprise that people like Sam might pick up on this idea and decide, 'You know what? Andy could actually be more valuable because of what happened, and Jon will be a massive threat because of who he is. So maybe the move right now in Episode 1 is to take out somebody we all believe could win this game. And I think that's what they did.'"
The podcast closed, as it usually does, with Probst reading his casting notes from the eliminated player to Charlie, cohost Jay Wolff , and the fans. This was an even more unique case than usual, considering Jon's renown. As a former speechwriter and cohost of "Pod Save America" and "Lovett or Leave It," arguably the most famous person to grace the beaches of Fiji in the new era, he easily passed the initial interview.
"My first impressions were what you might expect," Probst recounts. "I wrote, 'He's amazing, very compelling, incredible storyteller. He will be great. Yes, he should be on the show. And then, as we continue to talk more in future conversations, I wrote, 'He does overthink things. This could cause decision-making issues.' And then, after another interview, I wrote, 'He should and could go very deep. He's so smart. What would stop him?'"
Whether it was his reputation preceding him, a capsized boat, or his closest ally throwing him under the bus, Lovett was stopped, in surprising fashion. And we can't wait to see where things take off from here.
Next, check out our Survivor 47 preseason interview with Jeff Probst .
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